All writing is by the grace of God. People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad. In these sentences that you show me, I can find no beauty, for I see death in every clause and every word. There is a fossil or a mummy character which pervades this book. The best sepulchers, the vastest catacombs, Thebes and Cairo, Pyramids, are sepulchers to me. I like gardens and nurseries. Give me initiative, spermatic, prophesying, man-making words.

As soon as a child has left the room his strewn toys become affecting.

Coal is a portable climate.

Tis the privilege of Art Thus to play its cheerful part, Man on earth to acclimate And bend the exile to his fate.

Some books leave us free and some books make us free.

Friends should be like books, easy to find when you need them, but seldom used.

When we see a special reformer we feel like asking him, What right have you, sir, to your own virtue? Is virtue piecemeal?