Aunt Celia is one of those persons who are born to command, and when they are thrown in contact with those who are born to be commanded all goes as m… - Kate Douglas Wiggin

The soul grows into lovely habits as easily as into ugly ones, and the moment a life begins to blossom into beautiful words and deeds, that moment a new standard of conduct is established, and your eager neighbors look to you for a continuous manifestation of the good cheer, the sympathy, the ready wit, the comradeship, or the inspiration, you once showed yourself capable of. Bear figs for a season or two, and the world outside the orchard is very unwilling you should bear thistles.

Lord, I do not ask that Thou shouldst give me wealth; only show me where it is, and I will attend to the rest.

When I was a little girl (I always think that these words, in precisely this juxtaposition, are six of the most charming in the language) -- when I was a little girl, I lived, between the ages of six and sixteen, in a small village in Maine.