The humble soul is like the violet, which grows low, hangs the head downward, and hides itself with its own leaves.

Who has not experienced how, on near acquaintance, plainness becomes beautified, and beauty loses its charm, exactly according to the quality of the heart and mind? And from this cause am I of opinion that the want of outward beauty never disquiets a noble nature or will be regarded as a misfortune. It never can prevent people from being amiable and beloved in the highest degree.

People seek for the spiritual champagne, but they mistake what it is.

There are words which sever hearts more than sharp swords; there are words the point of which sting the heart through the course of a whole life.

The human heart is like heaven; the more angels the more room.

Gentle feelings produce profoundly beneficial effects upon stern natures. It is the spring rain which melts the ice-covering of the earth, and causes it to open to the beams of heaven.

I have never as yet gone a step to see a literary lion; but I would go a considerable way to see Emerson, this pioneer in the moral forests of the New World, who applies his axe to the roots of the old trees to hew them down and to open the paths for new planting.