Sanity is very rare; every man almost and every woman has a dash of madness.

That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.

Do not speak of God much. After a very little conversation on the highest nature, thought deserts us and we run into formalism.

Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.

The cure for false theology is motherwit. Forget your books and traditions, and obey your moral perceptions at this hour.

The poet's habit of living should be set on a key so low that the common influences should delight him.

The art of sculpture is long ago perished to any real effect... it is the game of a rude and youthful people, and not the manly labour of a wise and spiritual nation.