As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions.

The most attractive class of people are those who are powerful obliquely, and not by the direct stroke: men of genius, but not yetaccredited: one gets the cheer of their light, without paying too great a tax.

It makes a great difference in the force of a sentence, whether a man be behind it or no.

Manners are the happy ways of doing things; each once a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage.

Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely.

We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.

The greatest meliorator of the world is selfish, huckstering Trade.