Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.

Every second is of infinite value.

What then is your duty? What the day demands.

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

What is the destiny of man, but to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness?

There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.

We are the slaves of objects around us, and appear little or important according as these contract or give us room to expand.