The goitre of egotism is so frequent among notable persons, that we must infer some strong necessity in nature which it subserves;such as we see in the sexual attraction.

Ten percent of people can think, another ten percent of people think that they think, and eighty percent of people would rather die than be made to think.

Men of God have always, from time to time, walked among men, and made their commission felt in the heart and soul of the commonest hearer.

As I walked in the woods I felt what I often feel that nothing can befall me in life, no calamity, no disgrace (leaving me my eyes) to which Nature will not offer a sweet consolation. Standing on the bare ground with my head bathed by the blithe air, & uplifted into the infinite space, I become happy in my universal relations. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign & accidental. I am the heir of uncontained beauty and power.

Spartans, stoics, heroes, saints and gods use short and positive speech.

The faith that stands on authority is not faith.

Nothing is dead: men feign themselves dead, and endure mock funerals and mournful obituaries, and there they stand looking out ofthe window, sound and well, in some new and strange disguise.