How strange and awful is the synthesis of life and death in the gusty winds and falling leaves of an autumnal day!

Ignorance seldom vaults into knowledge.

He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration.

I love being superior to myself better than [to] my equals.

Nothing is as contagious as enthusiasm. It is the real allegory of the myth of Orpheus; it moves stones, and charms brutes. It is the genius of sincerity, and truth accomplishes no victories without it.

The first class of readers may be compared to an hour-glass, their reading being as the sand; it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier. A third class is like a jelly-bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and dregs. The fourth class may be compared to the slave of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, preserves only the pure gems.

We have to administer the law whether we like it or no.