I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us.

Youth ends when egotism does; maturity begins when one lives for others.

When a tree is polled, it will sprout new shoots nearer its roots. A soul that is ruined in the bud will frequently return to the springtime of its beginnings and its promise-filled childhood, as though it could discover new hopes there and retie the broken threads of life. The shoots grow rapidly and eagerly, but it is only a sham life that will never be a genuine tree.

Yo creo que se puede establecer una división entre la juventud y la madurez. La juventud acaba cuando termina el egoísmo; la madurez se inicia cuando se vive para los demás.