There is no way to penetrate the surface of life but by attacking it earnestly at a particular point.

The actual God of many Americans... is simply the current of American life.

A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius.

Could anything be more indicative of a slight but general insanity than the aspect of the crowd on the streets of Chicago?

To retire to the monastery, or the woods, or the sea, is to escape from the sharp suggestions that spur on ambition.

Form the habit of making decisions when your spirit is fresh...to let dark moods lead is like choosing cowards to command armies.

We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross in the eyes of a refined one, and so on. We always imagine, and in imagining share, the judgments of the other mind.