Success never needs an excuse.

Ah, what without a heaven would be even love!--a perpetual terror of the separation that must one day come.

One vice worn out makes us wiser than fifty tutors.

Nothing ages like laziness.

Men of strong affections are jealous of their own genius. They fear lest they should be loved for a quality, and not for themselves.

Happy indeed the poet of whom, like Orpheus, nothing is known but an immortal name! Happy next, perhaps, the poet of whom, like Homer, nothing is known but the immortal works. The more the merely human part of the poet remains a mystery, the more willing is the reverence given to his divine mission.

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.