As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.

All men are partially buried in the grave of custom, and of some we see only the crown of the head above ground. Better are the physically dead, for they more lively rot. Even virtue is no longer such if it be stagnant. A man's life should be constantly as fresh as this river. It should be the same channel, but a new water every instant.

I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

Those undeserved joys which come uncalled and make us more pleased than grateful are they that sing.

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

All men are really most attracted by the beauty of plain speech, and they even write in a florid style in imitation of this. Theyprefer to be misunderstood rather than to come short of its exuberance.