Nothing can be true which is either complete or vacant; every touch is false which does not suggest more than it represents, and every space is false which represents nothing.

Every great man is always being helped by everybody, for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.

The repose necessary to all beauty is repose, not of inanition, nor of luxury, nor of irresolution, but the repose of magnificent energy and being; in action, the calmness of trust and determination; in rest, the consciousness of duty accomplished and of victory won; and this repose and this felicity can take place as well in the midst of trial and tempest, as beside the waters of comfort.

The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.

The spirit needs several sorts of food of which knowledge is only one.

A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.

Repose demands for its expression the implied capability of its opposite,--energy.