There is no trifling with nature; it is always true, grave, and severe; it is always in the light, and the faults and errors fall to our share. It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure.

Music, in the best sense, does not require novelty; nay, the older it is, and the more we are accustomed to it, the greater its effect.

Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them.

The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it.

At bottom, no real object is unpoetical, if the poet knows how to use it properly.

Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.

What we agree with leaves us inactive, but contradiction makes us productive.