Science is the topography of ignorance. From a few elevated points we triangulate vast spaces, inclosing infinite unknown details. We cast the lead, and draw up a little sand from abysses we may never reach with our dredges.

Every man is an omnibus in which his ancestors ride.

Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes.

I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.

Poverty comes pleading not for charity, for the most part, but imploring us to find a purchaser for its unmarketable wares.

There is a little plant called reverence in the corner of my soul's garden, which I love to have watered once a week.

There is nothing like the dead cold hand of the past to take down our tumid egotism and lead us into the solemn flow of the life of our race.