Emily Blackwell quotes:

Every advance in social progress removes us more and more from the guidance of instinct, obliging us to depend upon reason for the assurance that our habits are really agreeable to the laws of health.

It's not who you are, who you are friends, and how popular they are, it's just about how much you get out of each friendship and how much you learn from each one that really counts.

Social intercourse -- a very limited thing in a half civilized country, becomes in our centers of civilization a great power. . .