I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top.

Literary people are forever judging the quality of the mind by the turn of expression.

That is the consolation of a little mind; you have the fun of changing it without impeding the progress of mankind.

As crowds increase we build our forts of inattention, and the more we talk the easier it is to mean little and listen not at all.

Persecution was at least a sign of personal interest.

Talk ought always to run obliquely, not nose to nose with no chance of mental escape.

Averageness is a quality we must put up with. Men march toward civilization in column formation, and by the time the van has learned to admire the masters the rear is drawing reluctantly away from the totem pole.