We do not want actions, but men; not a chemical drop of water, but rain; the spirit that sheds and showers actions, countless, endless actions.

Railroad iron is a magician's rod, in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water.

The book of nature is the book of fate. She turns the gigantic pages, leaf after leaf never returning one.

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.

Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principal reason why men are so often useless is that they neglect their own profession or calling, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.

Man exists for his own sake and not to add a laborer to the State.

All promise outruns performance.