The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief.

The reliance on authority measures the decline of religion, the withdrawal of the soul.

Hospitality consists in a little fire, a little food, and an immense quiet

Sentimentalists ... adopt whatever merit is in good repute, and almost make it hateful with their praise. The warmer their expressions, the colder we feel.... Cure the drunkard, heal the insane, mollify the homicide, civilize the Pawnee, but what lessons can be devised for the debauchee of sentiment?

The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.

People destined to meet will do so, apparently by chance, at precisely the right moment.

And yet--it is not beauty that inspires the deepest passion. Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. Beauty, without expression, tires.