We must think things not words, or at least we must constantly translate our words into the facts for which they stand, if we are to keep to the real and the true.

One of the eternal conflicts out of which life is made up is that between the effort of every man to get the most he can for his services, and that of society, disguised under the name of capital, to get his services for the least possible return.

Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.

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

Imitation is a necessity of human nature.

General propositions do not decide concrete cases. The decision will depend on a judgment or intuition more subtle than any articulate major premise.

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up.