Shakespeare carries us to such a lofty strain of intelligent activity, as to suggest a wealth which beggars his own; and we then feel that the splendid works which he has created, and which in other hours we extol as a sort of self-existent poetry, take no stronger hold of real nature than the shadow of a passing traveller on the rock. The inspiration which uttered itself in Hamlet and Lear could utter things as good from day to day, for ever.

To believe in luck, if it were not a solecism so to use the word believe, is skepticism.

Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.

Every man contemplates an angel in his future self.

This knot of nature is so well tied that nobody was ever cunning enough to find the two ends.

Most people, who have quit smoking, have had at least one unsuccessful try in the past. It is not important how many times you try to quit. The only important thing is, that eventually you stay quit

Every man I meet is in some way my superior...