People that seem so glorious are all show; underneath they are like everyone else.

God hides things by putting them near us.

Health is the first muse, comprising the magical benefits of air, landscape, and bodily exercise on the mind.

But there are higher secrets of culture, which are not for the apprentices, but for proficients. These are lessons only for the brave. We must know our friends under ugly masks. The calamities are our friends.

The gift, to be true, must be the flowing of the giver unto me, correspondent to my flowing unto him.

Those who have ruled human destinies, like planets, for thousands of years, were not handsome men.

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.