It is familiarity with life that makes time speed quickly. When every day is a step in the unknown, as for children, the days are long with gathering of experience.
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The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing
Money is made at Christmas out of holly and mistletoe, but who save the vendors would greatly care if no green branch were procurable? One symbol, indeed, has obscured all others--the minted round of metal. And one may safely say that, of all the ages since a coin first became the symbol of power, ours is that in which it yields to the majority of its possessors the poorest return in heart's contentment.
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The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing
For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.
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The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing
For it is the mind which creates the world about us, and, even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.
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The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing
Flippancy, the most hopeless form of intellectual vice.
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New Grub Street by George Gissing
"Literature nowadays is a trade. Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets . . . "
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New Grub Street by George Gissing
"Life is a huge farce, and the advantage of possessing a sense of humour is that it enables one to defy fate with mocking laughter."
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New Grub Street by George Gissing