Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World, — Kate Douglas Wiggin

Miranda Sawyer had a heart, of course, but she had never used it for any other purpose than the pumping and circulating of blood.”

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.