"When a child, with child-like apprehensions that dived not beneath the
surface of the matter, I read those parables--not guessing the involved
wisdom--I had more yearnings toward that simple architect that built his
house upon the sand, than I entertained for his more cautious neighbor; I
grudged at the harsh censure pronounced upon the quiet soul that kept his
talent; and prizing their simplicity beyond the more provident, and to my
apprehension, somewhat _unfeminine_ wariness of their competitors, I felt
a kindness that amounted almost to a _tendre_ for those thoughtless
virgins. I have never made an acquaintance since that lasted, or a
friendship that answered, with any that had not some tincture of the
absurd in their characters."--_Charles Lamb._