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.

Desultory reading is delightful, but to be beneficial, our reading must be carefully directed.

Why will no man confess his faults? Because he continues to indulge in them; a man cannot tell his dream till he wakes.

A disease is farther on the road to being cured when it breaks forth from concealment and manifests its power.

He who tenders doubtful safety to those in trouble refuses it.

What if a man save my life with a draught that was prepared to poison me? The providence of the issue does not at all discharge the obliquity of the intent. And the same reason holds good even in religion itself. It is not the incense, or the offering that is acceptable to God, but the purity and devotion of the worshipper.

It is pleasant at times to play the madman.