It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods.

You see how wide the gulf that separates me from the Christian church.

To one who has enjoyed the full life of any scene, of any hour, what thoughts can be recorded about it seem like the commas and semicolons in the paragraph-mere stops.

Tragedy is always a mistake; and the loneliness of the deepest thinker, the widest lover, ceases to be pathetic to us so soon as the sun is high enough above the mountains.

We need to hear the excuses men make to themselves for their worthlessness.

There is some danger lest there be no real religion in the heart which craves too much daily sympathy.

Genius will live and thrive without training, but it does not the less reward the watering pot and the pruning knife.