The truths of nature are one eternal change, one infinite variety. There is no bush on the face of the globe exactly like another bush; there are no two trees in the forest whose boughs bend into the same network, nor two leaves on the same tree which could not be told one from the other, nor two waves in the sea exactly alike.

What we think or what we know or what we believe is in the end of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do

Fit yourself for the best society, and then, never enter it.

The virtue of the imagination is its reaching, by intuition and intensity, a more essential truth than is seen at the surface of things.

We are, after all, only trustees of the wealth we possess. Without the community and its resources... there would be little wealth for anyone.

High art consists neither in altering, nor in improving nature; but in seeking throughout nature for 'whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure;' in loving these, in displaying to the utmost of the painter's power such loveliness as is in them, and directing the thoughts of others to them by winning art, or gentle emphasis.

The path of a good woman is indeed strewn with flowers; but they rise behind her steps, not before them.