In my cheapest moments I am apt to think that it is n't my business to be "seeking the spirit," but as much its business to be seeking me.

I could not undertake to form a nucleus of an institution for the development of infant minds, where none already existed. It would be too cruel.

A man is wise with the wisdom of his time only, and ignorant with its ignorance.

It is not every man who can be a Christian, even in a very moderate sense, whatever education you give him. It is a matter of constitution and temperament, after all. He may have to be born again many times. I have known many a man who pretended to be a Christian, in whom it was ridiculous, for he had no genius for it. It is not every man who can be a free man, even.

Let go of the past and live the future . . . Live the life you imagined.

We hear and apprehend only what we already half know.

This American government - what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will.