The heroic books, even if printed in the character of our mother tongue, will always be in a language dead to degenerate times; and we must laboriously seek the meaning of each word and line, conjecturing a larger sense than common use permits out of what wisdom and valor and generosity we have. The modern cheap and fertile press, with all its translations, has done little to bring us nearer to the heroic writers of antiquity. They seem as solitary, and the letter in which they are printed as rare and curious, as ever.

Only lovers know the value and magnanimity of truth.

No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher.

The past is only so heroic as we see it. It is the canvas on which our idea of heroism is painted, and so, in one sense, the dim prospectus of our future field.

When a noble deed is done, who is likely to appreciate it? They who are noble themselves.

Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour.

We do not enjoy poetry unless we know it to be poetry.