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.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

I am engaged to Concord and my own private pursuits by 10,000 ties, and it would be suicide to rend them.

We never conceive the greatness of our fates.

A man thinks as well through his legs and arms as this brain.

I found that they knew but little of the history of their race, and could be entertained by stories about their ancestors as readily as any way .

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.