Truth comes to us from the past, as gold is washed down from the mountains of Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious particles, and intermixed with infinite alloy, the debris of the centuries.

An eager pursuit of fortune is inconsistent with a severe devotion to truth. The heart must grow tranquil before the thought can become searching.

A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough.

Music is the fourth great material want, first food, then clothes, then shelter, then music.

It is some compensation for great evils, that they enforce great lessons.

Tears are nature's lotion for the eyes. The eyes see better for being washed by them.

It is our relation to circumstances that determine their influence over us. The same wind that blows one ship into port may blow another off shore.