Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light.

The step between practical and theoretic science, is the step between the miner and the geologist, the apocathecary and the chemist.

I fear uniformity. You cannot manufacture great men any more than you can manufacture gold.

That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

Men have commonly more pleasure in the criticism which hurts than in that which is innocuous, and are more tolerant of the severity which breaks hearts and ruins fortunes than of that which falls impotently on the grave.

No peace was ever won from fate by subterfuge or argument; no peace is ever in store for any of us, but that which we shall win by victory over shame or sin--victory over the sin that oppresses, as well as over that which corrupts.