Genius in poverty is never feared, because nature, though liberal in her gifts in one instance, is forgetful in another.

Never let your love for your profession overshadow your religious feeling. Depend on it that religion will strengthen, not weaken, your energies, and will not only make you a better sailor, but a superior man. Professional studies are not to be neglected; but, on the other hand, take care how you fall into the common error of believing they are the remedy for all the ills of life.

The longer a man lives in this world the more he must be convinced that all domestic quarrels had better never be obtruded on the public; for, let the husband be right, or let him be wrong, there is always a sympathy existing for women which is certain to give the man the worst of it.

Some persons are so devotional they have not one bit of true religion in them.

How difficult it is to get men to believe that any other man can or does act from disinterestedness!

Art is a reality, not a definition; inasmuch as it approaches a reality, it approaches perfection, and inasmuch as it approaches a mere definition, it is imperfect and untrue.

The safest principle through life, instead of reforming others, is to set about perfecting yourself.