Moral supremacy is the only one that leaves monuments, and not ruins, behind it.
James Russell LowellComparative criticism teaches us that moral and aesthetic defects are more nearly related than is commonly supposed.
James Russell LowellThere is no self-delusion more fatal than that which makes the conscience dreamy with the anodyne of lofty sentiments, while the life is groveling and sensual
James Russell LowellBetter one bite at forty, of truths bitter rind, than the hot wine that gushed from the vintage of twenty.
James Russell Lowell