The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.

This life we live is a strange dream, and I don't believe at all any account men give of it.

Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.

Everything may serve a lower as well as a higher use.

It will always be found that one flourishing institution exists and battens on another mouldering one. The Present itself is parasitic to this extent.

I have a deep sympathy with war; it so apes the gait and bearing of the soul.

The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.