What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.

God never jests with us, and will not compromise the end of nature, by permitting any inconsequence in its procession.

Every man contemplates an angel in his future self.

No man ever came to an experience which was satiating, but his good is tidings of a better. Onward and onward!

Our friendships hurry to short and poor conclusions, because we have made them a texture of wine and dreams, instead of the toughfibre of the human heart. The laws of friendship are austere and eternal, of one web with the laws of nature and of morals.

Books are the best of things if well used; if abused, among the worst. They are good for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system.

Best masters for the young writer and speaker are the fault- finding brothers and sisters at home who will not spare him, but willpick and cavil, and tell the odious truth.