Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate; debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be foregone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most.

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

The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character, and the greater it grows, the more is the mischief. Talent is mistaken for genius, a dogma or system for truth, ambition for greatness, ingenuity for poetry, sensuality for art.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

Every man who would do anything well, must come to it from a higher ground.

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

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