We are most of us very lonely in the world. You who have any who love you, cling to them, and thank God. - William Makepeace Thackeray

The vessel is in port. He has got the prize he has been trying for all his life. The bird has come in at last. There it is with its head on his shoulder, billing and cooing close up to his heart, with soft outstretched fluttering wings. This is what he has asked for every day and hour for eighteen years. This is what he pined after. Here it is — the summit, the end — the last page of the third volume. Good-bye, colonel — God bless you, honest William! — Farewell, dear Amelia — Grow green again, tender little parasite, round the rugged old oak to which you cling!

People hate as they love, unreasonably.

It is better to love wisely, no doubt: but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all