The monkey is an organized sarcasm upon the human race.

When a man's pride is subdued it's like the sides of Mount Aetna. It was terrible during the eruption, but when that is over and the lava is turned into soil, there are vineyards and olive trees which grow up to the top.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

When a man can look upon the simple wild-rose, and feel no pleasure, his taste has been corrupted.

It is a bitter thought to an avaricious spirit that by and by all these accumulations must be left behind. We can only carry away from this world the flavor of our good or evil deeds.

The first merit of pictures is the effect which they can produce upon the mind; — and the first step of a sensible man should be to receive involuntary effects from them. Pleasure and inspiration first, analysis afterward.

Reason is a permanent blessing of God to the soul. Without it there can be no large religion.