Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends: have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men.

There is nothing sacred about convention; there is nothing sacred about primitive passions or whims; but the fact that a convention exists indicates that a way of living has been devised capable of maintaining itself.

Towers in a modern town are a frill and a survival; they seem like the raised hands of the various churches, afraid of being overlooked, and saying to the forgetful public, Here I am! Or perhaps they are rival lightning rods, saying to the emanations of divine grace, "Please strike here!

I have no axe to grind; only my thoughts to burnish.

When men and women agree, it is only in their conclusions; their reasons are always different.

There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor.

To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.