In my own time there have been inventions of this sort, transparent windows tubes for diffusing warmth equally through all parts of a building short-hand, which has been carried to such a perfection that a writer can keep pace with the most rapid speaker. But the inventing of such things is drudgery for the lowest slaves; philosophy lies deeper. It is not her office to teach men how to use their hands. The object of her lessons is to form the soul.

Fine conduct is always spontaneous.

Live among others as if God beheld you; speak to God as if others were listening.

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

An age builds up cities: an hour destroys them.

Nature does not reveal all her secrets at once. We imagine we are initiated in her mysteries: we are, as yet, but hanging around her outer courts.

Of war men ask the outcome, not the cause.