Moral epochs have their course as well as the seasons. We can no more hold them fast than we can hold sun, moon, and stars. Our faults perpetually return upon us; and herein lies the subtlest difficulty of self-knowledge.

If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.

We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.

I will say with Lorenzo de Medici that those who do not hope for another life are always dead to this one.

Deny yourself! You must deny yourself! That is the song that never ends.

Generally speaking, an author's style is a faithful copy of his mind. If you would write a lucid style, let there first be light in your own mind; and if you would write a grand style, you ought to have a grand character.

A word spoken is a terrible thing when it suddenly utters what the heart has long allowed.