Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social order is also.

There is hardly any one so insignificant that he does not seem imposing to some one at some time.

Prudence and compromise are necessary means, but every man should have an impudent end which he will not compromise.

The imaginations which people have of one another are the solid facts of society.

To cease to admire is a proof of deterioration.

Simplicity is a pleasant thing in children, or at any age, but it is not necessarily admirable, nor is affectation altogether a thing of evil. To be normal, to be at home in the world, with a prospect of power, usefulness, or success, the person must have that imaginative insight into other minds that underlies tact and savoir-faire, morality and beneficence. This insight involves sophistication, some understanding and sharing of the clandestine impulses of human nature. A simplicity that is merely the lack of this insight indicates a sort of defect.

To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.