Thou art in the end what thou art. Put on wigs with millions of curls, set thy foot upon ell-high rocks. Thou abidest ever--what thou art.

If you want someone to develop a specific trait, treat them as though they already had it.

New inventions can and will be made; however, nothing new can be thought of that concerns moral man. Everything has already been thought and said which at best we can express in different forms and give new expressions to.

Everything perfect in its kind has to transcend its own kind, it must become something different and incomparable. In some notes the nightingale is still a bird; then it rises above its class and seems to suggest to every winged creature what singing is truly like.

We should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble one another.

Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.

Modern poets add a lot of water to their ink.