Work is not a curse, but drudgery is.

Titles are too "thin" for the nineteenth century.

A man without a vote is in this land like a man without a hand.

Mirthfulness is in the mind, and you cannot get it out. It is the blessed spirit that God has set in the mind to dust it, to enliven its dark places, and to drive asceticism, like a foul fiend, out at the back door. It is just as good, in its place, as conscience or veneration. Praying can no more be made a substitute for smiling than smiling can for praying.

In the morning, we carry the world like Atlas; at noon, we stoop and bend beneath it; and at night, it crushes us flat to the ground.

A boy is a piece of existence quite separate from all things else, and deserves separate chapters in the natural history of men.

Your greatest pleasure is that which rebounds from hearts that you have made glad.