Few men have been admired by their own households.

Few men have been admired by their own domestics.

Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls
Married impossible men?
Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out,
And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten.

Repeat 'impossible men': not merely rustic,
Foul-tempered or depraved
(Dramatic foils chosen to show the world
How well women behave, and always have behaved).

Impossible men: idle, illiterate,
Self-pitying, dirty, sly,
For whose appearance even in City parks
Excuses must be made to casual passers-by.

Has God's supply of tolerable husbands
Fallen, in fact, so low?
Or do I always over-value woman
At the expense of man?
Do I?
It might be so.

From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars of whose origins we are ignorant, and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants: they are the whole of their race.

I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.

Few men speak humbly of humility, chastely of chastity, skeptically of skepticism.

O how can wicked men seem so steady and untouched with such black hearts, while poor innocents stand like malefactors before them!

For though men be ignorant, yet they are men

Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.

It appeared possible that these other men were good fathers only because they knew too little of the world to grow frenzied against it.

There are few men who know how to go to their deaths with dignity, and often they are not those whom one would expect. Few know how to remain silent and respect the silence of others.

..[l]et me assure you: the world is full of mediocre men who are stunning successes.

[Men] are incomprehensible animals... They walk about boasting of their wisdom, strength, and sovereignty, while they have not sense so much as to swallow an apple with the aid of an Eve to put it down their throats.

It is rather remarkable that the majority of learned men have closed their minds to what seemed bare and simple facts to many people.