A religion that comes of thought, and study, and deliberate conviction, sticks best. The revivalized convert who is scared in the direction of heaven because he sees hell yawn suddenly behind him, not only regains confidence when his scare is over, but is ashamed of himself for being scared, and often becomes more hopelessly and malignantly wicked than he was before.

In the South the war is what A.D. is elsewhere; they date from it.

Don't look at the world with your hands in your pockets. To write about it you have to reach out and touch it.

In a museum in Havana, there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus, one when he was a boy and one when he was a man

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

Experience of life (not of books) is the only capital usable in such a book as you have attempted; one can make no judicious use of this capital while it is new.

The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.