An utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.

And what is it, thought I, after all! It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin.

Better be an old maid, a woman with herself as a husband, than the wife of a fool; and Solomon more than hints that all men are fools; and every wise man knows himself to be one.

Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great sun move not of himself; but is an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I.

Our institutions have a potent digestion, and may in time convert and assimilate to good all elements thrown in, however originally alien.

Yet habit - strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?

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