Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East -- to know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them -- who were above such trifling.

In my short experience of human life, the outward obstacles, if there were any such, have not been living men, but the institutions of the dead.

The church is a sort of hospital for men's souls and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies.

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

The condition-of-England question is a practical one. The condition of England demands a hero, not a poet.

I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

Even in our democratic New England towns the accidental possession of wealth, and its manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the possessor almost universal respect.