Commonplace Book

'"Oh, dear God, let me stay here! I am so tired of the noise and the glare and the traffic of the town. Let me find my soul in the everlasting silence of the hills; where there is no talk of riches nor of poverty, but space to breathe and move, and leisure to think and dream. Dream! Why, it is this that is real, and only the dwellers in cities who dream away their lives, fretted by an imaginary necessity for an imaginary importance. Who lose the end in pursuing the means. Who live in a voluntary prison - while outside - oh, outside - the bees hum in the sunshine, and the fruit ripens on the trees, and the shadows fall on the grass, and the white clouds are blown across the blue heavens - in vain - for them."'

from Cornelius by Mrs Henry de la Pasture (Chapter XII)