The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

A fortified town is like a man cased in the heavy armor of antiquity, with a horse-load of broadswords and small arms slung to him, endeavoring to go about his business.

I do not know where to find in any literature, whether ancient or modern, any adequate account of that Nature with which I am acquainted.

The virtue which we appreciate, we to some extent appropriate.

We do not live by justice, but by grace.

I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or, as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good.