Man is a piece of the universe made alive

Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces, which expose the whole movement.

The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue; and no genius can long or often utter anything which is not invited and gladly entertained by men around him.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. Their cousins can tell you nothing about them. They lived in their writings, and sotheir house and street life was trivial and commonplace. If you would know their tastes and complexions, the most admiring of their readers most resembles them.

Circumstance does not make the man. Circumstance reveals man to himself.

The intelligent have a right over the ignorant; namely, the right of instructing them.

Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today. Let us treat men and women well; treat them as if they were real; perhaps they are.