A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.

The history of what the law has been is necessary to the knowledge of what the law is.

There are three natural anaesthetics: Sleep, fainting, and death.

Under bad manners, as under graver faults, lies very commonly an overestimate of our special individuality, as distinguished from our generic humanity.

There is one gratification an old author can afford a certain class of critics; that namely, of comparing him as he is with what he was. It is a pleasure to mediocrity to have its superiors brought within range.

We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible.

To think great thoughts you must be heroes as well as idealists.