A superstition is a premature explanation that overstays its time.

A calculating engine is one of the most intricate forms of mechanism, a telegraph key one of the simplest. But compare their value.

Form may be of more account than substance. A lens of ice will focus a solar beam to a blaze.

Error held as truth has much the effect of truth. In politics and religion this fact upsets many confident predictions.

To render aid to the worthless is sheer waste. Rain does not freshen the Dead Sea, but only enables it to dissolve more salt.

Ten builders rear an arch, each in turn lifting it higher; but it is the tenth man, who drops in the keystone, who hears our huzzas.

Discovery begins by finding the discoverer.