In later life, as in earlier, only a few persons influence the formation of our character; the multitude pass us by like a distant army. One friend, one teacher, one beloved, one club, one dining table, one work table are the means by which one's nation and the spirit of one's nation affect the individual.

The guardian angels of life sometimes fly so high as to be beyond our sight, but they are always looking down upon us.

Without God there is for mankind no purpose, no goal, no hope, only a wavering future, an eternal dread of every darkness.

It is simpler and easier to flatter people than to praise them.

Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account?

Beauty attracts us men; but if, like an armed magnet it is pointed, beside, with gold and silver, it attracts with tenfold power.

In science the new is an advance; but in morals, as contradicting our inner ideals and historic idols, it is ever a retrogression.