Good writing is a kind of skating which carries off the performer where he would not go, and is only right admirable when to all its beauty and speed a subserviency to the will, like that of walking, is added.

We cannot describe the natural history of the soul, but we know that it is divine. All things are known to the soul. It is not to be surprised by any communication. Nothing can be greater than it, let those fear and those fawn who will. The soul is in her native realm; and it is wider than space, older than time, wide as hope, rich as love. Pusillanimity and fear she refuses with a beautiful scorn; they are not for her who putteth on her coronation robes, and goes out through universal love to universal power.

Your work should be in praise of what you love.

If in the least particular, one could derange the order of nature, who would accept the gift of life?

The sign and credentials of the poet are that he announces that which no man foretold

You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.

The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances.