There is as much difference between good poetry and fine verses, as between the smell of a flower-garden and of a perfumer's shop.

Many men spend their lives in gazing at their own shadows, and so dwindle away into shadows thereof.

There are men whom you will never dislodge from an opinion, except by taking possession of it yourself.

Nature is mighty. Art is mighty. Artifice is weak. For nature is the work of a mightier power than man. Art is the work of man under the guidance and inspiration of a mightier power. Artifice is the work of mere man, in the imbecility of his mimic understanding.

How deeply rooted must unbelief be in our hearts when we are surprised to find our prayers answered.

We look to our last sickness for repentance, unmindful that it is during a recovery men repent, not during a sickness.

The mind is like a trunk: if well-packed, it holds almost every thing; if ill-packed, next to nothing.