There is nothing more difficult to find than oneself.

If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonal experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.

I don't like the city better, the more I see it, but worse. I am ashamed of my eyes that behold it. It is a thousand times meanerthan I could have imagined.... The pigs in the street are the most respectable part of the population.

Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well.

You can hardly convince a man of error in a life-time, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grand-children may be. The geologists tell us that it took one hundred years to prove that fossils are organic, and one hundred and fifty more, to prove that they are not to be referred to the Noachian deluge.

The best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.