As long as our people quote English standards they dwarf their own proportions.

At times the whole world seems to be in conspiracy to importune you with emphatic trifles. Friend, client, child, sickness, fear, want, charity, all knock at once at thy closet door and say,—'Come out unto us.' But keep thy state; come not into their confusion. The power men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my act.

An empire is an immense egotism.

Intemperance is the only vulgarity.

The basis of good manners is self-reliance. Necessity is the law of all who are not self-possessed.

A weed is a plant we've found no use for yet.

Every moment instructs, and every object; for wisdom is infused into every form. It has been poured into us as blood; it convulsed us as pain; it slid into us as pleasure; it enveloped us in dull, melancholy days, or in days of cheerful labor; we did not guess its essence until after long time.