A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.

Every man will be a poet if he can; otherwise a philosopher or man of science. This proves the superiority of the poet.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined...

In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, "memoirs to serve for a history," which is but materials to serve for a mythology.

In a pure society, the subject of marriage would not be so often avoided,--from shame and not from reverence, winked out of sight,and hinted at only; but treated naturally and simply,--perhaps simply avoided like the kindred mysteries. If it cannot be spoken of for shame, how can it be acted of? But, doubtless, there is far more purity, as well as more impurity, than is apparent.

But the impressions which the morning makes vanish with its dews, and not even the most "persevering mortal" can preserve the memory of its freshness to midday.

I am too easily contented with a slight and almost animal happiness. My happiness is a good deal like that of the woodchucks.