Every moment of the night Forever changing places And they put out the star-light With the breath from their pale faces

Tell me truly, I implore-- Is there-- is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!

A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul.

It is the nature of truth in general, as of some ores in particular, to be richest when most superficial.

...If you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with this shovel

After reading all that has been written, and after thinking all that can be thought, on the topics of God and the soul, the man who has a right to say that he thinks at all, will find himself face to face with the conclusion that, on these topics, the most profound thought is that which can be the least easily distinguished from the most superficial sentiment.

In the marginalia ... we talk only to ourselves; we therefore talk freshly - boldly - originally - with abandonment - without conceit.