I should say that the useful results of science had accumulated, but that there had been no accumulation of knowledge, strictly speaking, for posterity; for knowledge is to be acquired only by a corresponding experience. How can we know what we are told merely? Each man can interpret another's experience only by his own.

Our taste is too delicate and particular. It says nay to the poet's work, but never yea to his hope.

Our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests and meadows which surround it.

A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

I have seen some whose consciences, owing undoubtedly to former indulgence, had grown to be as irritable as spoilt children, and at length gave them no peace. They did not know when to swallow their cud, and their lives of course yielded no milk.

How can any man be weak who dares to be at all?

Undoubtedly, in the most brilliant successes, the first rank is always sacrificed.