It is defeat that turns bone to flint, gristle to muscle, and makes men invincible.

Every boy wants someone older than himself to whom he may go in moods of confidence and yearning. The neglect of this child's want by grown people . . . is a fertile source of suffering.

There's not much practical Christianity in the man who lives on better terms with angels and seraphs than with his children, servants and neighbours.

Titles are too "thin" for the nineteenth century.

A man without ambition is like a beautiful worm - it can creep, but it cannot fly.

Find out what your temptations are, and you will find out largely what you are yourself.

The best stock a man can invest in, is the stock of a farm; the best shares are plow shares; and the best banks are the fertile banks of a rural stream; the more these are broken the better dividends they pay.