Philip Gilbert Hamerton Quote

What delights us in the spring is more a sensation than an appearance, more a hope than any visible reality. There is something in the softness of the air, in the lengthening of the days, in the very sounds and odors of the sweet time, that caresses us and consoles us after the rigorous weeks of winter.

The Sylvan Year: Leaves from the Note Book of Raoul Dubois (ed. 1876)