But the divinest poem, or the life of a great man, is the severest satire.... The greater the genius, the keener the edge of the satire.

The imagination never forgets; it is a re-membering. It is not foundationless, but most reasonable, and it alone uses all the knowledge of the intellect.

We do not live by justice, but by grace.

It cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, alewives, marsh-bankers, and others, which penetrate up the innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring, even to the interior lakes, their scales gleaming in the sun; and again, of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea.

The divinity in man is the true vestal fire of the temple which is never permitted to go out, but burns as steadily and with as pure a flame on the obscure provincial altar as in Numa's temple at Rome.

Are not all finite beings better pleased with motions relative than absolute?

The fishermen say that the "thundering of the pond" scares the fishes and prevents their biting.