Attention is the stuff that memory is made of, and memory is accumulated genius.

Metaphor is no argument, though it be sometimes the gunpowder to drive one home, and imbed it in the memory.

It is curious how tyrannical the habit of reading is...

In life's small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained; Know'st thou when Fate Thy measure takes, or when she'll say to thee, "I find thee worthy; do this deed for me?"

There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates.

Piety is indifferent whether she enters at the eye or at the ear. There is none of the senses at which she does not knock one day or other. The Puritans forgot this, and thrust Beauty out of the meeting-house and slammed the door in her face.

Not what we give, but what we share, for the gift without the giver is bare.