A conception not reducible to the small change of daily experience is like a currency not exchangeable for articles of consumption; it is not a symbol, but a fraud.

Many possessions, if they do not make a man better, are at least expected to make his children happier; and this pathetic hope is behind many exertions.

The fly that prefers sweetness to a long life may drown in honey.

People are usually more firmly convinced that their opinions are precious than that they are true.

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

Repetition is the only form of permanence that Nature can achieve.

The constant demands of the heart and the belly can allow man only an incidental indulgence in the pleasures of the eye and the understanding.