I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offence.

Some people are born to make life pretty, and others to grumble that it is not pretty enough.

When the soul is just liberated from the wretched giant's bed of dogmas on which it has been racked and stretched ever since it began to think, there is a feeling of exultation and strong hope.

I'll tell you what's the greatest power under heaven, and that is public opinion-the ruling belief in society about what is right and what is wrong, what is honourable and what is shameful. That's the steam that is to work the engines.

We cannot reform our forefathers.

The select natures who pant after the ideal, and find nothing in pantaloons or petticoats great enough to command their reverence and love, are curiously in unison with the narrowest and pettiest.

There are answers which, in turning away wrath, only send it to the other end of the room.