The civilized man is a larger mind but a more imperfect nature than the savage.

All greatness affects different minds, each in its own particular kind, and the variations of testimony mark the truth of feeling.

I accept the universe!

The critic is beneath the maker, but is his needed friend. The critic is not a base caviler, but the younger brother of genius. Next to invention is the power of interpreting invention; next to beauty the power of appreciating beauty. And of making others appreciate it.

Everywhere the fatal spirit of imitation, of reference to European standards, penetrates and threatens to blight whatever of original growth might adorn the soil.

Every fact is impure, but every fact contains in it the juices of life. Every fact is a clod, from which may grow an amaranth or a palm.

A man who means to think and write a great deal must, after six and twenty, learn to read with his fingers.