It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.

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.

An infinitude of tenderness is the chief gift and inheritance of all truly great men.

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

Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.

And remember, child, that nothing is ever done beautifully, which is done in rivalship; or nobly, which is done in pride.

No changing of place at a hundred miles an hour will make us one whit stronger, or happier, or wiser. There was always more in the world than man could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. The really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. It does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being.