Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.

There are no laws by which we can write Iliads.

The finer the nature, the more flaws it will show through the clearness of it; and it is a law of this universe that the best things shall be seldomest seen in their best form.

There is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of cathedrals.

I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.

It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.

Geology does better in reclothing dry bones and revealing lost creations, than in tracing veins of lead and beds of iron; astronomy better in opening to us the houses of heaven than in teaching navigation; surgery better in investigating organiation than in setting limbs; only it is ordained that, for our encouragement, every step we make in science adds something to its practical applicabilities.