From every spot on earth we are equally near heaven and the infinite.

Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both.

Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.

The great artist and thinker are the simplifiers.

The masses are the material of democracy, but its form-that is to say, the laws which express the general reason, justice, and utility-can only be rightly shaped by wisdom, which is by no means a universal property.

Every living being seeks instinctively to complete itself.

Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.