An ideal cannot wait for its realization to prove its validity.

Facts are all accidents. They all might have been different. They all may become different. They all may collapse altogether.

Lovely promise and quick ruin are seen nowhere better than in Gothic architecture.

The truth properly means the sum of all true propositions, what omniscience would assert, the whole ideal system of qualities andrelations which the world has exemplified or will exemplify. The truth is all things seen under the form of eternity.

Happiness is impossible, and even inconceivable, to a mind without scope and without pause, a mind driven by craving, pleasure, or fear. To be happy, you must be reasonable, or you must be tamed. You must have taken the measure of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world and what things in it can really serve you. To be happy, you must be wise.

Injustice in this world is not something comparative; the wrong is deep, clear, and absolute in each private fate.

Fun is a good thing but only when it spoils nothing better.