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.

I was always an early riser. Happy the man who is! Every morning day comes to him with a virgin's love, full of bloom and freshness. The youth of nature is contagious, like the gladness of a happy child.

He who seeks repentance for the past, should woo the angel virtue for the future.

The fewer blows, the better. Brave men fight if they must; wise men never fight if they can help it.

Dream manfully and nobly, and thy dreams shall be prophets.

There is no tongue that flatters like a lover's; and yet, in the exaggeration of his feelings, flattery seems to him commonplace. Strange and prodigal exuberance, which soon exhausts itself by flowing!

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?