A man who cannot win fame in big own age will have a very small chance of winning it from posterity. True, there are some half-dozen exceptions to this truth among millions of myriads that attest it; but what man of common sense would invest any large amount of hope in so unpromising a lottery?

The secret of fashion is to surprise and never to disappoint.

Castles in the air cost a vast deal to keep up.

There is no past, as long as books shall live. Books make the past our heritage and our home.

Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence.

People praise us behind our backs, but we hear them not; few before our faces, and who is not suspicious of the truth of such praise?

Never get a reputation for a small perfection if you are trying for fame in a loftier area. The world can only judge by generals, and it sees that those who pay considerable attention to minutiae seldom have their minds occupied with great things.