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

In most cases a favorite writer is more with us in his book than he ever could have been in the flesh; since, being a writer, he is one who has studied and perfected this particular mode of personal incarnation, very likely to the detriment of any other. I should like as a matter of curiosity to see and hear for a moment the men whose works I admire; but I should hardly expect to find further intercourse particularly profitable.

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

When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won, because he has lost, or because he cares no more for the game, the virtue passes out of him.

As social beings we live with our eyes upon our reflection, but have no assurance of the tranquillity of the waters in which we see it.

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

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