The present condition of fame is merely fashion.

The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.

...there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed in the paradox of Poe, wisdom should reason on the unforeseen.

I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.

Surprise is the secret of joy.

He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical.

Teach to the young, men's enduring truths, and let the learned amuse themselves with their passing errors.