Of all the virtues necessary to the completion of the perfect man, there is none to be more delicately implied and less ostentatiously vaunted than that of exquisite feeling or universal benevolence.

He who has loved often ... has loved never.

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.

The desire of excellence is the necessary attribute of those who excel. We work little for a thing unless we wish for it. But we cannot of ourselves estimate the degree of our success in what we strive for; that task is left to others. With the desire for excellence comes, therefore, the desire for approbation. And this distinguishes intellectual excellence from moral excellence; for the latter has no necessity of human tribunal; it is more inclined to shrink from the public than to invite the public to be its judge.

The haughty woman who can stand alone, and requires no leaning-place in our hearts, loses the spell of her sex.

What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labor.

Say what we will, we may be sure that ambition is an error. Its wear and tear on the heart are never recompensed.