I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me.

Thought dissolves the material universe by carrying the mind up into a sphere where all is plastic.

There is nothing settled in manners, but the laws of behavior yield to the energy of the individual.

We judge of a man's wisdom by his hope, knowing that the inexhaustibleness of nature is an immortal youth.

There never was a strong character that was not made strong by discipline of the will; there never was a strong people that did not rank subordination and discipline among the signal virtues. Subjection to moods is the mark of a deteriorating morality. There is no baser servitude than that of the man whose caprices are his masters, and a nation composed of such men could not long preserve its liberties.

In every landscape, the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and that is seen from the first hillock aswell as from the top of the Alleghanies. The stars at night stoop down over the brownest, homeliest common, with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on the Campagna, or on the marble deserts of Egypt.

Beware of too much good staying in your hand. It will fast corrupt and worm worms. Pay it away quickly in some sort.