An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.

A true teacher should penetrate to whatever is vital in his pupil, and develop that by the light and heat of his own intelligence.

True wisdom, indeed, springs from the wide brain which is fed from the deep heart; and it is only when age warms its withering conceptions at the memory of its youthful fire, when it makes experience serve aspiration, and knowledge illumine the difficult paths through which thoughts thread their way into facts,--it is only then that age becomes broadly and nobly wise.

The purity of the critical ermine, like that of the judicial, is often soiled by contact with politics.

Nothing is rarer than the use of a word in its exact meaning.

The universal line of distinction between the strong and the weak is that one persists; the other hesitates, falters, trifles, and at last collapses or "caves in.

There is a natural disposition with us to judge an author's personal character by the character of his works. We find it difficult to understand the common antithesis of a good writer and a bad man.