A proposition of geometry does not compete with life; and a proposition of geometry is a fair and luminous parallel for a work of art. Both are reasonable, both untrue to the crude fact; both inhere in nature, neither represents it.

Everything is true; only the opposite is true too; you must believe both equally or be damned.

There is no progress whatever. Everything is just the same as it was thousands, and tens of thousands, of years ago. The outward form changes. The essence does not change.

Sing a song of seasons; something bright in all, flowers in the summer, fires in the fall.

Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality.

It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves.

To have suffered ... sets a keen edge on what remains of the agreeable. This is a great truth and has to be learned in the fire.