Happy is he who looks only into his work to know if it will succeed, never into the times or the public opinion; and who writes from the love of imparting certain thoughts and not from the necessity of sale - who writes always to the unknown friend.

The man for whom the law exists - the man of forms, the conservative - is a tame man.

Cities force growth and make people talkative and entertaining, but they also make them artificial.

A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; - read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing.

I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom.

Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong

The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is, and all that will ever be.