No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he voluntarily makes himself a great baby - so helpless and so ridiculous.

Those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present.

Yet some natures are too good to be spoiled by praise, and wherever the vein of thought reaches down into the profound, there is no danger from vanity. Solemn friends will warn them of the danger of the head's being turned by the flourish of trumpets, but they can afford to smile.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.

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

There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.

We, as we read, must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner; must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly.