Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.

When we build, let us think that we build forever.

God intends no man to live in this world without working, but it seems to me no less evident that He intends every man to be happy in his work.

The eye is continually influenced by what it cannot detect; nay, it is not going too far, to say that it is most influenced by what it detects least. Let the painter define, if he can, the variations of lines on which depend the change of expression in the human countenance.

The higher a man stands, the more the word vulgar becomes unintelligible to him.

I would have, then, our ordinary dwelling-houses built to last, and built to be lovely; as rich and full of pleasantness as may be within and without: . . . with such differences as might suit and express each man's character and occupation, and partly his history.

Success by the laws of competition signifies a victory over others by obtaining the direction and profits of their work. This is the real source of all great riches.