There is a sort of human paste that when it comes near the fire of enthusiasm is only baked into harder shape.

there are two ways of speaking an audience will always like: one is, to tell them what they don't understand; and the other is, to tell them what they're used to.

Music sweeps by me as a messenger - Carrying a message that is not for me

Nature repairs her ravages, but not all. The uptorn trees are not rooted again; the parted hills are left scarred; if there is a new growth, the trees are not the same as the old, and the hills underneath their green vesture bear the marks of the past rending. To the eyes that have dwelt on the past, there is no thorough repair.

Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves. And it is best to fix our minds on that certainty, instead of considering what may be the elements of excuse for us.

We are led on, like little children, by a way we know not.

You youngsters nowadays think you're to begin with living well and working easy; you've no notion of running afoot before you get on horseback.