The world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish; the impressions remain flat and unconnected in the soul. Thus they are easily led by the opinions of others, are content to let their impressions be shuffled and rearranged and evaluated differently.

Since I have heard often enough that everyone in the end has his own religion, nothing seemed more natural to me than to fashion my own.

The world sees only the reflection of merit; therefore when you come to know a really great man intimately, you may as often find him above as below his reputation.

if only these treasures were not so fragile as they are precious and beautiful.

It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.

All that is transitory is but a metaphor.

Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires: beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go.