Those of us who always abhorred slavery as an atheistical iniquity, gladly we join in the exulting chorus of humanity over its downfall.

Courage is the most common and vulgar of the virtues.

Better be secure under one king, than exposed to violence from twenty millions of monarchs, though oneself be one of them.

Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me.

...that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and for aye. Such is the endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort.

For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half known life.

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