As with ships, so with men; he who turns his back to his foe gives him an advantage.

What is an atheist, but one who does not, or will not, see in the universe a ruling principle of love; and what a misanthrope, but one who does not, or will not, see in man a ruling principle of kindness?

Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.

A good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing.

Many sensible things banished from high life find an asylum among the mob.

We die, because we live.

...in certain moods, no man can weigh this world without throwing in something, somehow like Original Sin, to strike the uneven balance.