Nature is upheld by antagonism. Passions, resistance, danger, are educators. We acquire the strength we have overcome.

Culture is one thing and varnish is another.

I find the Englishman to be him of all men who stands firmest in his shoes. They have in themselves what they value in their horses, mettle and bottom.

To help the young soul, to add energy, inspire hope, and blow the coals into a useful flame; to redeem defeat by new thought and firm action, this, though not easy, is the work of divine men.

You have a place to live in this world which no other man can occupy; hence no competitors.

When I walk up the piazza of Santa Croce I feel as if it were not a Florentine nor an European church but a church built by and for the human race.

We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. That is our permanent state.