I have never met a man who was not my superior in some particular.

Never utter the truism but live it among men.

A friend, therefore, is a sort of paradox in nature. I who alone am, I who see nothing in nature whose existence I can affirm with equal evidence to my own, behold now the semblance of my being, in all its height, variety, and curiosity, reiterated in a foreign form; so that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

The genius of the Platonists, is intoxicating to the student, yet how few particulars of it can I detach from all their books.

I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional.

The moral sense reappears today with the same morning newness that has been from of old the fountain of beauty and strength. You say there is no religion now. 'Tis like saying in rainy weather, There is no sun, when at that moment we are witnessing one of its superlative effects.

We expect a great man to be a good reader.