The wise man, the true friend, the finished character, we seek everywhere, and only find in fragments.

When the literary class betray a destitution of faith, it is not strange that society should be disheartened and sensualized by unbelief.

Nature is a tropical swamp in sunshine, on whose purlieus we hear the song of summer birds, and see prismatic dewdrops, - but her interiors are terrific, full of hydras and crocodiles.

The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average tendency. Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. Act singly, and what you have already done singly will justify you now. Greatness appeals to the future.

Some of the sweetest hours in life, in retrospect will be found to have been spent with books.

I am become a transparent eyeball.

We read often with as much talent as we write.