The poet Swinburne said that spring begins ’blossom by blossom.

It’s the quiet ones who suffer most.

Sometimes it's more terrible and more stupid to sit, paralyzed, as events slip past you. A certain kind of guardian angel must watch over fools as they rush in.

you can be pinpricked to death,' said Marta. 'I think the Chinese have a torture along those lines.

Perhaps Anita Loos had been right when she wrote that family life was only fit for those who could stand it.

These displays made it clear that the truly dedicated homemaker matched her comforter to her pillow shams to her washcloths to her bedskirt to her toothbrush holder.

I couldn't tell if, as husbands went, Paul was unusual, but he seamed to need lots more care and feeding than I bargained on. If only he'd come with an instruction booklet, like our new steam iron did, or even with a little plastic stick with tips about watering and sunlight, like a florist azalea.

The poet Swinburne said that spring begins 'blossom by blossom.