The hues of the opal, the light of the diamond, are not to be seen if the eye is too near.

The intellectual life may be kept clean and healthful, if man will live the life of nature, and not import into his mind difficulties which are none of his.

Every heroic act measures itself by its contempt of some external good. But it finds its own success at last, and then the prudent also extol.

All history is but the lengthened shadow of a great man.

An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the censures.

It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

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