Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.

We gladly put antiquity above our age but not posterity. Only a father doesn't begrudge his son's talent.

Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.

Necessity is cruel, but it is the only test of inward strength. Every fool may live according to his own likings.

Humor is one of the elements of genius--admirable as an adjunct; but as soon as it becomes dominant, only a surrogate for genius.

Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient. To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome. Every beginning is cheerful: the threshold is the place of expectation.

Whoever strikes at marriage either by word or act undermines the foundation of all moral society.