Our poets are men of talents who sing, and not the children of music.

A great man will find a great subject, or which is the same thing, make any subject great.

The have a good friend is one of the greatest delights of life.

And truly it demands something god like in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster. High be his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in good earnest be doctrine, society, law, to himself, that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others!

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.

When science is learned in love, and its powers are wielded by love, they will appear the supplements and continuations of the material creation.

The modernness of all good books seems to give men an existence as wide as man.