But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a certain grace withoutgrandeur, and itself not new but derivative; a vase of fair outline, but empty,--which whoso sees, may fill with what wit and character is in him, but which does not, like the charged cloud, overflow with terrible beauty, and emit lightnings on all beholders.

Give no bounties: make equal laws: secure life and prosperity and you need not give alms.

Every burned book enlightens the world.

The primary wisdom is intuition. In that deep force, the last fact behind which analysis cannot go, all things find their origin.

The law of nature is alternation for evermore. Each electrical state superinduces the opposite. The soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude; and it goes alone for a season, that it may exalt its conversation or society.

We pass for what we are.

We love force and we care very little how it is exhibited.