The great will not condescend to take anything seriously.

Never read any book that is not a year old.

The whole value of history, of biography, is to increase my self-trust, by demonstrating what man can be and do.

The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life,--life passed through the fire of thought.

Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memories of his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The air is full of sounds;the sky, of tokens; the ground is all memoranda and signatures; and every object covered over with hints, which speak to the intelligent.

I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. I hope that it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation.

Must we always talk for victory, and never once for truth, for comfort, and joy?