Words in prose ought to express the intended meaning; if they attract attention to themselves, it is a fault; in the very best styles you read page after page without noticing the medium. Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are, the more necessary it is to be plain.

Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward; it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.

Intellect really exists in its products; its kingdom is here.

How like herrings and onions our vices are in the morning after we have committed them.

History has a point of view; it cannot be all things to all people.

An idea, in the highest sense of that word, cannot be conveyed but by a symbol.

What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole, its body brevity, and wit its soul.