Between the reputation of the author living and the reputation of the same author dead there is ever a wide discrepancy. - Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Books that have become classics—books that have had their day and now get more praise than perusal—always remind me of venerable colonels and majors and captains who, having reached the age limit, find themselves retired on half pay.

In her eyes a thought
Grew sweet and sweeter, deepening like the dawn—
A mystical forewarning!

When friends are at your hearthside met,
Sweet courtesy has done its most
If you have made each guest forget
That he himself is not the host.