A man's memory may almost become the art of continually varying and misrepresenting his past, according to his interest in the present.

Our character ... is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.

Nothing can be meaner than the anxiety to live on, to live on anyhow and in any shape; a spirit with any honor is not willing to live except in its own way, and a spirit with any wisdom is not over-eager to live at all.

Prayer is not a substitute for work; it is an effort to work further and be efficient beyond the range of one's powers.

Heaven is to be at peace with things.

All beauties are to be honored, but only one embraced.

It is war that wastes a nations wealth, chokes its industries, kills its flower, narrows its sympathies, condemns it to be governed by adventurers, and leaves the puny, deformed, and unmanly to breed the next generation.