Better far off to leave half the ruins and nine-tenths of the churches unseen and to see well the rest; to see them not once, but again and often again; to watch them, to learn them, to live with them, to love them, till they have become a part of life and life's recollections.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.

Many are ambitious of saying grand things, that is, of being grandiloquent.

Nothing good bursts forth all at once. The lightning may dart out of a black cloud; but the day sends his bright heralds before him, to prepare the world for his coming.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. It is wholesome and bracing for the mind to have its faculties kept of the stretch.

The power of faith will often shine forth the most when the character is naturally weak.

Pity is like eating mustard without beef.