Let us not be too much acquainted. I would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures, that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and self-poise.

The great man is not convulsible or tormentable; events pass over him without much impression.

It has been the office of art to educate the perception of beauty. We are immersed in beauty but our eyes have no clear vision.

We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases.

We prize books, and they prize them most who are themselves wise.

We may like well to know what is Plato’s and what is Montesquieu’s or Goethe’s part, and what thought was always dear to the writer himself; but the worth of the sentences consists in their radiancy and equal aptitude to all intelligence. They fit all our facts like a charm. We respect ourselves the more that we know them.

The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action passed, by, as a loss of power.