A vivid thought brings the power to paint it; and in proportion to the depth of its source is the force of its projection.

From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.

But wise men pierce this rotten diction and fasten words again to visible things; so that picturesque language is at once a commanding certificate that he who employs it, is a man in alliance with truth and God.

Truth gathers itself spotless and unhurt after all our surrenders and concealments and partisanship; never hurt by the treachery or ruin of its best defenders, whether Luther, or William Penn, or St. Paul.

The sciences, even the best,-mathematics and astronomy,-are like sportsmen, who seize whatever prey offers, even without being able to make any use of it.

Language is the archives of history.

The beautiful rests on the foundations of the necessary.