The world is a divine dream, from which we may presently awake to the glories and certainties of day.

There is no history; only biography.

It is the dissenter, the theorist, the aspirant, who is quitting this ancient domain to embark on seas of adventure, who engages our interest. Omitting then for the present all notice of the stationary class, we shall find that the movement party divides itself into two classes, the actors, and the students.

Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character.

Stay at home in your mind. Don't recite other people's opinions.

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both.

The thief steals from himself. The swindler swindles himself. For the real price is knowledge and virtue, whereof wealth and credit are signs. These signs, like paper money, may be counterfeited or stolen, but that which they represent, namely, knowledge and virtue, cannot be counterfeited or stolen.