Poets should be law-givers; that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide and insult, but should announce and lead the civil code, and the day's work.

[Gratitude is] the cheerfulness of wisdom.

Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places.

Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.

All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.

He who would be a man must therefore be a non-conformist.

All great successes are the triumph of persistence.