Fine natures are like fine poems; a glance at the first two lines suffices for a guess into the beauty that waits you if you read on.

It is an error to suppose that courage means courage in everything.

To mourn deeply for the death of another loosens from myself the petty desire for, and the animal adherence to life. We have gained the end of the philosopher, and view without shrinking the coffin and the pall.

In belief lies the secret of all valuable exertion.

To be happy, you must learn to forget yourself.

Art itself is essentially ethical; because every true work of art must have a beauty or grandeur of some kind, and beauty and grandeur cannot be comprehended by the beholder except through the moral sentiment. The eye is only a witness; it is not a judge. The mind judges what the eye reports to it; therefore, whatever elevates the moral sentiment to the contemplation of beauty and grandeur is in itself ethical.

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday.