We say justly that the weak person is flat, for, like all flat substances, he does not stand in the direction of his strength, that is, on his edge, but affords a convenient surface to put upon. He slides all the way through life.... But the brave man is a perfect sphere, which cannot fall on its flat side and is equally strong every way.

He listens equally to the prayers of the believer and the unbeliever.

The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond.

The Grecian are youthful and erring and fallen gods, with the vices of men, but in many important respects essentially of the divine race.

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

A man may acquire a taste for wine or brandy, and so lose his love for water, but should we not pity him.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.