Always do what you are afraid to do.

The most attractive class of people are those who are powerful obliquely, and not by the direct stroke: men of genius, but not yetaccredited: one gets the cheer of their light, without paying too great a tax.

We first share the life by which things exist, and afterwards see them as appearances in nature, and forget that we have shared their cause.

No man gains credit for his cowardly courtesies.

Besides the general infusion of wit to heighten civility, the direct splendor of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society, as the costliest addition to its rule and its credit.

The problem of restoring to the world original and eternal beauty is solved by redemption of the soul.

Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact makes much impression on him, and another none.