Have mountains, and waves, and skies, no significance but what we consciously give them, when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts?

There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.

A human being should beware how he laughs, for then he shows all his faults.

It is better to be a thorn in the side of a friend than an echo.

A great man scarcely knows how he dines, how he dresses; but without railing or precision, his living is natural and poetic.

I have sometimes thought that, in order to be a good minister, it was necessary to leave the ministry. The profession is antiquated. In an altered age, we worship in the dead forms of our forefathers.

For every seeing soul, there are two absorbing facts - I, and the abyss.