We may seem great in an employment below our worth but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.

The very greatest things - great thoughts discoveries inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship often pondered over in sorrow and at length established with difficulty.

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

The willow which bends to the tempest often escapes better than the oak which resists it and so in great calamities it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.

Where words are restrained the eyes often talk a great deal.

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.

Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression.

Half a truth is often a great lie.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie deliberate contrived and dishonest but the myth persistent persuasive and unrealistic.

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.