What people call the spirit of the times is mostly their own spirit in which the times mirror themselves.

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.

I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wants.

The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.

As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more potent, in which most men live.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

The effects of good music are not just because it's new; on the contrary music strikes us more the more familiar we are with it.