Nature is what you may do. There is much you may not do.

Human beings cannot endure the geological chaos they encounter under the soil of their own gardens.

Under the dominion of an idea, which possesses the minds of multitudes, as civil freedom, or the religious sentiment, the power ofpersons are no longer subjects of calculation. A nation of men unanimously bent on freedom, or conquest, can easily confound the arithmetic of statists, and achieve extravagant actions, out of all proportion to their means; as, the Greeks, the Saracens, the Swiss, the Americans, and the French have done.

As many languages as he has, as many friends, as many arts and trades, so many times is he a man.

All science is transcendental or else passes away.

The secret of genius is to suffer no fiction to exist for us; to realize all that we know; in the high refinement of modern life,in arts, in sciences, in books, in men, to exact good faith, reality, and a purpose; and first, last, midst, and without end, to honor every truth by use.

My evening visitors, if they cannot see the clock should find the time in my face.