He is a good man, who can receive a gift well. We are either glad or sorry at a gift, and both emotions are unbecoming.

Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men.

I fear the popular notion of success stands in direct opposition in all points to the real and wholesome success. One adores public opinion, the other, private opinion; one, fame, the other, desert; one, feats, the other, humility; one, lucre, the other, love; one, monopoly, and the other, hospitality of mind.

We never touch but at points.

The foundation of culture, as of character, is at last the moral sentiment.

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.

Skepticism is slow suicide.