What is called virtue in the common sense of the word has nothing to do with this or that man's prosperity, or even happiness.

There are at bottom but two possible religions--that which rises in the moral nature of man, and which takes shape in moral commandments, and that which grows out of the observation of the material energies which operate in the external universe.

Justice without wisdom is impossible.

The superstition of science scoffs at the superstition of faith.

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.

The solitary side of our nature demands leisure for reflection upon subjects on which the dash and whirl of daily business, so long as its clouds rise thick about us, forbid the intellect to fasten itself.

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