The downright fanatic is nearer to the heart of things than the cool and slippery disputant.

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.

Most men are less afraid of ghosts than of facts.

We may learn by practice such things upon earth as shall be of use to us in heaven. Piety, unostentatious piety, is never out of place.

Break up the institution of the family, deny the inviolability of its relations, and in a little while there would not be any humanity.

There is no doubt of the essential nobility of that man who pours into life the honest vigor of his toil, over those who compose the feathery foam of fashion that sweeps along Broadway; who consider the insignia of honor to consist in wealth and indolence; and who, ignoring the family history, paint coats of arms to cover up the leather aprons of their grandfathers.

Life is a problem. Not merely a premiss from which we start, but a goal towards which we proceed. It is an opportunity for us not merely to get, but to attain; not simply to have, but to be. Its standard of failure or success is not outward fortune, but inward possession.