Minds fettered by this doctrine no longer inquire concerning a proposition whether it is attested by sufficient evidence, but whether it accords with Scripture; they do not search for facts as such, but for facts that will bear out their doctrine. It is easy to see that this mental habit blunts not only the perception of truth, but the sense of truthfulness, and that the man whose faith drives him into fallacies treads close upon the precipice of falsehood.

Death is the king of this world: 'Tis his park where he breeds life to feed him. Cries of pain are music for his banquet.

If the past is not to bind us, where can duty lie? We should have no law but the inclination of the moment.

Her own misery filled her heart—there was no room in it for other people's sorrow.

Our passions do not live apart in locked chambers but dress in their small wardrobe of notions, bring their provisions to a common table and mess together, feeding out of the common store according to their appetite.

Receptiveness is a rare and massive power, like fortitude.

But what we strive to gratify, though we may call it a distant hope, is an immediate desire; the future estate for which men drudge up city alleys exists already in their imagination and love.