I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.

Who can . . . guess how much industry and providence and affection we have caught from the pantomime of brutes?

Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.

The secret of success in society is a certain heartiness and sympathy. A man who is not happy in company, cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion; all his information is a little impertinent. A man who is happy there, finds in every turn of the conversation occasions for the introduction of what he has to say. The favorites of society are able men, and of more spirit than wit, who have no uncomfortable egotism, but who exactly fill the hour and the company, contended and contenting.

You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root, bud, and fruit.

All things with which we deal preach to us. What is a farm but a mute gospel? The chaff and the wheat, weeds and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun,--it is a sacred emblem from the first furrow of spring to the last stack which the snow of winter overtakes in the fields.

He who has acquired the ability, may wait securely the occasion of making it felt and appreciated, and know that it will not loiter.