It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.

I find nothing in fables more astonishing than my experience in every hour. One moment of a man's life is a fact so stupendous as to take the luster out of fiction.

Successful is the person who has lived well, laughed often and loved much, who has gained the respect of children, who leaves the world better than they found it, who has never lacked appreciation for the earth's beauty, who never fails to look for the best in others or give the best of themselves.

He is great who confers the most benefits.

I like my boy with his endless sweet soliloquies and iterations and his utter inability to conceive why I should not leave all my nonsense, business, and writing and come to tie up his toy horse, as if there was or could be any end to nature beyond his horse. And he is wiser than we when [he] threatens his whole threat "I will not love you."

The experience of each new age requires a new confession, and the world seems always waiting for its poet

He, who loves the bristle of bayonets, only sees in their glitter what beforehand he feels in his hand.