No man can have society upon his own terms.

The height, the deity of man is to be self-sustained, to need no gift, no foreign force. Society is good when it does not violate me, but best when it is likest to solitude.

No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.

He is great who confers the most benefits.

We can see well into the past; we can guess shrewdly into the future, but that which is rolled up and muffled in impenetrable folds is today.

It is doubtless a vice to turn one's eyes inward too much, but I am my own comedy and tragedy.

There are days when the great are near us, when there is no frown on their brow, no condescension even; when they take us by the hand, and we share their thought.