Danger is the very basis of superstition. It produces a searching after help supernaturally when human means are no longer supposed to be available.

Never disregard what your enemies say. They may be severe, they may be prejudiced, they may be determined to see only in one direction, but still in that direction see clearly. They do not speak all the truth, but they generally speak the truth from one point of view; so far as that goes, attend to them.

One of the surest evidences of an elevated taste is the power of enjoying works of impassioned terrorism, in poetry, and painting. The man who can look at impassioned subjects of terror with a feeling of exultation may be certain he has an elevated taste.

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

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

The only legitimate artists in England are the architects.

There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.