The essence of true nobility is neglect of self. Let the thought of self pass in, and the beauty of a great action is gone, like the bloom from a soiled flower.

Our human laws are but the copies, more or less imperfect, of the eternal laws, so far as we can read them.

Ignorance is the dominion of absurdity.

The essence of greatness is neglect of the self.

Every one of us ... knows better than he practices, and recognizes a better law than he obeys.

The superstition of science scoffs at the superstition of faith.

To tell men that they cannot help themselves is to fling them into recklessness and despair.