There are moods in which we court suffering, in the hope that here, at least, we shall find reality, sharp peaks and edges of truth. But it turns out to be scene-painting and counterfeit. The only thing grief has taught me is to know how shallow it is.

I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me.

Nature is a frugal mother, and never gives without measure. When she has work to do, she qualifies men for that and sends them equipped.

He only is a well-made man who has a good determination. And the end of culture is not to destroy this, God forbid! but to train away all impediment and mixture and leave nothing but pure power.

It is one light which beams out of a thousand stars. It is one soul which animates all men.

Converse with a mind that is grandly simple, and literature looks like word-catching.

A scholar is a candle which the love and desire of all men will light.