The habits of a vigorous mind are born in contending with difficulties.

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries, 'Give, give.'

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

Many of our disappointments and much of our unhappiness arise from our forming false notions of things and persons.

What is the history of mighty kingdoms and nations, but a detail of the ravages and cruelties of the powerful over the weak?

Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.

These are the times when a genius wants to live.