"The passions are the seeds of vices as well as of virtues, from which either may spring, accordingly as they are nurtured. Unhappy they who have never been taught the art to govern them!"

"What has a man's face to do with his character? Can a man of good character help having a disagreeable face?"

"Happiness arises in a state of peace, not of tumult."

"Poverty cannot deprive us of many consolations. It cannot rob us of the affection we have for each other, or degrade us in our own opinion, of in that of any person, whose opinion we ought to value."

"There is some comfort in dying surrounded by one's children."

"I tasted too what was called the sweet of revenge - but it was transient, it expired even with the object, that provoked it."

"I can't think of anything to write about except families. They are a metaphor for every other part of society."

"A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold."

"Having a baby's sweet face so close to your own, for so long a time as it takes to nurse 'em, is a great tonic for a sad soul."

"They say that blood is thicker than water. Maybe that's why we battle our own with more energy and gusto than we would ever expend on strangers."

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."