We are apt to think it the finest era of the world when America was beginning to be discovered, when a bold sailor, even if he were wrecked, might alight on a new kingdom.

There is no feeling, perhaps, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music,--that does not make a man sing or play the better.

But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current talk or even current philosophy.

The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character.

I am not magnanimous enough to like people who speak to me without seeming to see me

Poetry and art and knowledge are sacred and pure.

Hurt, he'll never be hurt--he's made to hurt other people.