Nothing seems to me so likely to make people unhappy in themselves and at variance with others as the habit of killing time. — Dorothea Dix

Attention to any subject will in a short time render it attractive, be it ever so disagreeable and tedious at first. — Dorothea Dix

I am contracting continually a debt of gratitude which time will never see canceled. There is a treasury from which it will be repaid, but I do not dispense its stores. — Dorothea Dix

Time passed solely in the pursuit of pleasure leaves no solid enjoyment for the future; but from the hours you spend in reading and studying useful books, you will gather a golden harvest in future years. — Dorothea Dix

What greater bliss than to look back on days spent in usefulness, in doing good to those around us. — Dorothea Dix

A man usually values that most for which he has labored; he uses that most frugally which he has toiled hour by hour and day by day to acquire. — Dorothea Dix

My happiest hours are spent in school, surrounded by those I hope to benefit. — Dorothea Dix

I was early taught by sorrow to shed tears, and now when sudden joy lights up, or any unexpected sorrow strikes my heart, I find it difficult to repress the full and swelling tide of feeling. — Dorothea Dix

The capsules of the geranium furnish admirable barometers. Fasten the beard, when fully ripe, upon a stand, and it will twist itself or untwist, according as the air is moist or dry. — Dorothea Dix

That statesman is indeed happy who can count as his friends the really honest and consistent, the true Patriots, and the men of honorable thought. — Dorothea Dix

Man is not made better by being degraded. — Dorothea Dix

Be of good cheer, for sadness cannot heal the national wounds. — Dorothea Dix

I worship talents almost. I sinfully dare mourn that I possess them not. — Dorothea Dix

Pleasures take to themselves wings and fly away; true knowledge remains forever. — Dorothea Dix

The duties of a teacher are neither few nor small, but they elevate the mind and give energy to the character. — Dorothea Dix

The tapestry of history has no point at which you can cut it and leave the design intelligible. — Dorothea Dix

Men need knowledge in order to overpower their passions and master their prejudices. — Dorothea Dix

Floral emblems have been often adopted. The houses of York and Lancaster had their roses, the Bourbons of France, the fleur–de–lis, Scotland her thistle, and Ireland her shamrock. — Dorothea Dix

I must study alone, as I am condemned to do every thing alone, I believe, in this life. — Dorothea Dix

Why not, when it can be done without exposure or expense, let me rescue some of America’s miserable children from vice and guilt? — Dorothea Dix

If we had only those things which are procured with ease and freedom from danger, we should find the comforts and luxuries, if not many of the necessaries of life, considerably diminished. — Dorothea Dix

Jasmine, the name of which signifies fragrance, is the emblem of delicacy and elegance. It is reared with difficulty in New England, but at the South, puts forth all its graces. — Dorothea Dix

I have had so much at heart. Defeated, not conquered; disappointed, not discouraged. I have but to be more energetic and more faithful in the difficult and painful vocation to which my life is devoted. — Dorothea Dix

Happy are those who dwell apart from the harrowing tumults of public life! — Dorothea Dix

With care and patience, people may accomplish things which, to an indolent person, would appear impossible. — Dorothea Dix

Of all the calamities to which humanity is subject, none is so dreadful as insanity. … All experience shows that insanity seasonably treated is as certainly curable as a cold or a fever. — Dorothea Dix

There is, I think, great difficulty in writing of one’s self: it is almost impossible to present subjects where the chief actor must be conspicuous and not seem to be, or really be, egotistical. — Dorothea Dix

Of my English friends, I should find language too poor to speak the just praise and the excellence which shines in their characters and lives. — Dorothea Dix