Why all this deference to Alfred, and Scanderbeg, and Gustavus? Suppose they were virtuous; did they wear out virtue?

The years teach us much, which the days never knew.

Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images, or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have...

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

It is one light which beams out of a thousand stars. It is one soul which animates all men.

The future belongs to those who prepare for it.

We do not yet trust the unknown power of thoughts

Insist upon yourself. Be original.

We are ashamed of our thoughts and often see them brought forth by others.

There is no knowledge that is not power

We all boil at different degrees

Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

The profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until an equal mind and heart finds and publishes it.

The only prudence in life is concentration.

Self-command is the main discipline.

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

It is hard to go beyond your public. If they are satisfied with cheap performance, you will not easily arrive at better. If they know what is good, and require it. you will aspire and...

A man cannot utter 2 or 3 sentences without disclosing to intelligent ears precisely where he stands in life and thought . . .

You can take better care of your secret than another can

I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again. Sure he is that he read it there,...

In the matter of religion, people eagerly fasten their eyes on the difference between their own creed and yours; whilst the charm of the study is in finding the agreements and identities in all the...

Every man passes his life in the search after friendship.

Then the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out/ I went into a spin and I started to shout/ I’ve been hit. This is it. This is it! I . . T . ....

We are the prisoners of ideas.

We must set up a strong present tense against all rumors of wrath, past and to come.

We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul

The President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly attributes. To preserve for a short time so conspicuous an appearance before...

There are three wants which can never be satisfied: that of the rich, who wants something more; that of the sick, who wants something different; and that of the traveler, who says, “Anywhere but here

People wish to be settled. It is only as far as they are unsettled that there is any hope for them.

All diseases run into one, old age.

Be good to your work, your word, and your friend.

Always do what you are afraid to do.

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

Language is fossil Poetry.

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it

Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.

Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same

Money often costs too much

The wise man in the storm prays God not for safety from danger but for deliverance from fear.

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Yes, but does Maine have anything to SAY to Florida?

To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.

Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.

Fame is proof that people are gullible

The triumphs of peace have been in some proximity to war. Whilst the hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp were still visible in the port and complexion of...

Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

Thoughts are the seed of action.