There are two classes of men called poets. The one cultivates life, the other art,... one satisfies hunger, the other gratifies the palate.

It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.

There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.

We can conceive of nothing more fair than something which we have experienced.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me.

The very thrills of genius are disorganizing. The body is never quite acclimated to its atmosphere, but how often, succumbs and goes into a decline.