Even if nothing worse than wasted mental effort could be laid to the charge of theology, that alone ought to be sufficient to banish it from the earth, as one of the worst enemies of mankind.

The eye of genius has always a plaintive expression, and its natural language is pathos.

Reverence is the highest quality of man's nature; and that individual, or nation, which has it slightly developed, is so far unfortunate. It is a strong spiritual instinct, and seeks to form channels for itself where none exists; thus Americans, in the dearth of other objects to worship, fall to worshiping themselves.

Prejudices of all kinds have their strongest holds in the minds of the vulgar and the ignorant.

The boughs of no two trees ever have the same arrangement. Nature always produces individuals; She never produces classes.

No music is so pleasant to my ears as that word-father.

Nature made us individuals, as she did the flowers and the pebbles; but we are afraid to be peculiar, and so our society resembles a bag of marbles, or a string of mold candles. Why should we all dress after the same fashion? The frost never paints my windows twice alike.