I would fain coin wisdom,—mould it, I mean, into maxims, proverbs, sentences, that can easily be retained and transmitted. Would that I could denounce and banish from the language of men—as base money—the words by which they cheat and are cheated!

Words are like eyeglasses they blur everything that they do not make clear.

The dregs may stir themselves as they please; they fall back to the bottom by their own coarseness.

Moderation consists in being moved as angels are moved.

We find little in a book but what we put there. But in great books, the mind finds room to put many things.

To teach is to learn twice.

Grace is in garments, in movements, in manners; beauty in the nude, and in forms. This is true of bodies; but when we speak of feelings, beauty is in their spirituality, and grace in their moderation.