The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense.

Literature exists so that where one man has lived finely ten thousand may afterward live finely

The most important preliminary to the task of arranging one's life so that one may live fully and comfortably within one's daily budget of 24 hours is the calm realization of the extreme difficulty of the task, of the sacrifices and the endless effort which it demands.

Pessimism, when you get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism.

Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate.

The test of a first-rate work, and a test of your sincerity in calling it a first-rate work, is that you finish it.

A sense of the value of time... is an essential preliminary to efficient work; it is the only method of avoiding hurry.