The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservation and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.

Our condition as men is risky and ticklish enough. One can not be sure of himself and his fortune an hour, but he may be whisked off into some pitiable or ridiculous plight.

The effect of the indulgence of human affection is a certain cordial exhilaration.

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.

All public facts are to be individualized, all private facts are to be generalized.

The American who has been confined, in his own country, to the sight of buildings designed after foreign models, is surprised on entering York Minster or St. Peter's at Rome, by the feeling that these structures are imitations also,--faint copies of an invisible archetype.

God is our name for the last generalization to which we can arrive.