There have been heroes for whom this world seemed expressly prepared, as if creation had at last succeeded; whose daily life was the stuff of which our dreams are made, and whose presence enhanced the beauty and ampleness of Nature herself.

I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. What force has a multitude? They can only force me who obey a higher law than I.... I do not hear of men being forced to live this way or that by masses of men. What sort of life were that to live?

May we so love as never to have occasion to repent of our love!

Duty is one and invariable; it requires no impossibilities, nor can it ever be disregarded with impunity.

The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.

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

I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our intercourse.