And what fastens attention, in the intercourse of life, like any passage betraying affection between two parties? Perhaps we never saw them before, and never shall meet them again. But we see them exchange a glance, or betray a deep emotion, and we are no longer strangers. We understand them, and take the warmest interest in the development of the romance. All mankind love a lover.

The universal does not attract us until housed in an individual.

This knot of nature is so well tied that nobody was ever cunning enough to find the two ends.

Each philosopher, each bard, each actor has only done for me, as by a delegate, what one day I can do for myself.

Only those books come down which deserve to last . All the gilt edges, vellum and morocco, all the presentation copies to all the libraries will not preserve a book in circulation beyond its intrinsic date.

The poem is a confession of faith.

I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.