People who love soft methods and hate iniquity forget this; that reform consists in taking a bone from a dog. Philosophy will not do it.
John Jay ChapmanOne of the deepest impulses in man is the impulse to record, - to scratch a drawing on a tusk or keep a diary, to collect sagas and heap cairns. This instinct as to the enduring value of the past is, one might say, the very basis of civilization.
John Jay ChapmanNothing is more injurious to the character and to the intellect than the suppression of a generous emotion.
John Jay ChapmanA vision of truth which does not call upon us to get out of our armchair - why, this is the desideratum of mankind.
John Jay ChapmanI want to find someone on the earth so intelligent that he welcomes opinions which he condemns.
John Jay ChapmanThe men and woman who make the best boon companions seem to have given up hope of doing something else...some defect of talent or opportunity has cut them off from their pet ambition and has thus left them with leisure to take an interest in their lives of others. Your ambition may be, it makes him keep his thoughts at home. But the heartbroken people - if I may use the word in a mild, benevolent sense - the people whose wills are subdued to fate, give us consolation, recognition, and welcome.
John Jay Chapman