That cause is strong which has, not a multitude, but one strong man behind it.

All free governments, whatever their name, are in reality governments by public opinion ; and it is on the quality of this public opinion that their prosperity depends. It is, therefore, their first duty to purify the element from which they draw the breath of life.

It is curious for one who studies the action and reaction of national literature on each other, to see the humor of Swift and Sterne and Fielding, after filtering through Richter, reappear in Carlyle with a tinge of Germanism that makes it novel, alien, or even displeasing, as the case may be, to the English mind.

Aspiration sees only one side of every question; possession many.

I willingly confess to so great a partiality for trees as tempts me to respect a man in exact proportion to his respect for them.

History is clarified experience.

Heaven is neither here nor there to me. Everywhere and nowhere. Just not in between, But I believe in Heaven.