We must not always try to plumb the depths of the human heart; the truths it contains are among those that are best seen in half-light or in perspective.

There is nothing beautiful or sweet or great in life that is not mysterious.

The most disastrous times have produced the greatest minds. The purest metal comes of the most ardent furnace; the most brilliant lightning come of the darkest clouds.

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.

There are two consequences in history; an immediate one, which is instantly recognized, and one in the distance, which is not at first perceived. These consequences often contradict each other; ... look to the end of an accomplished fact, and you will see that it has always produced the contrary of what was expected from it.

Let us not disdain glory too much; nothing is finer, except virtue. The height of happiness would be to unite both in this life.

A moral character is attached to autumnal scenes; the leaves falling like our years, the flowers fading like our hours, the clouds fleeting like our illusions, the light diminishing like our intelligence, the sun growing colder like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our lives--all bear secret relations to our destinies.