Men think God is destroying them because he is tuning them. The violinist screws up the key till the tense cord sounds the concert pitch; but it is not to break it, but to use it tunefully, that he stretches the string upon the musical rack.

It is sometimes of God's mercy that men in the eager pursuit of worldly aggrandizement are baffled; for they are very like a train going down an inclined plane - putting on the brake is not pleasant, but it keeps the car on the track.

They who refuse education to a black man would turn the South into a vast poorhouse, and labor into a pendulum, necessity vibrating between poverty and indolence.

Intelligence increases mere physical ability one half. The use of the head abridges the labor of the hands.

No matter who reigns, the merchant reigns.

Everyone has conscience enough to hate; few have religion enough to love.

The bibliophile is the master of his books, the bibliomaniac their slave.