In all things I would have the island of a man inviolate. Let us sit apart as the gods, talking from peak to peak all round Olympus. No degree of affection need invade this religion.

Napoleon said of Massena, that he was not himself until the battle began to go against him; then, when the dead began to fall in ranks around him, awoke his powers of combination, and he put on terror and victory as a robe.

Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful.

No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.

The Gothic cathedral is a blossoming in stone subdued by the insatiable demand of harmony in man.

Two sorts of writers possess genius: those who think, and those who cause others to think.

You cannot give anything to a magnanimous person. After you have served him, he at once puts you in debt by his magnanimity.