I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice ... While I am looking at him, I am thinking what he is thinking of me. He is a different sort of man, that's all.

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

Every sacred book, successively, has been accepted in the faith that it was to be the final resting-place of the sojourning soul;but after all, it was but a caravansary which supplied refreshment to the traveler, and directed him farther on his way to Isphahan or Bagdat. Thank God, no Hindoo tyranny prevailed at the framing of the world, but we are freemen of the universe, and not sentenced to any caste.

We never conceive the greatness of our fates.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.

Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.