The manner in which the hours of freedom are spent determines, no less than labor and war, the moral worth of a nation.

An obstacle is not a discouragement. It may become one, but only with our own consent. So long as we refuse to be discouraged, we cannot be discouraged.

The decent moderation of today will be the least of human things tomorrow. At the time of the Spanish Inquisition, the opinion of good sense and of the good medium was certainly that people ought not to burn too large a number of heretics; extreme and unreasonable opinion obviously demanded that they should burn none at all.

Wisdom requires no form; her beauty must vary, as varies the beauty of flame. She is no motionless goddess, for ever couched on her throne.

You do well to have visions of a better life than of every day, but it is the life of every day from which the elements of a better life must come.

Many a happiness in life, a many a disaster, is due to chance alone; but the peace within us can never be governed by chance.

I have done what I could do in life, and if I could not do better, I did not deserve it. In vain I have tried to step beyond what bound me.