True poets, like great artists, have scarcely any childhood, and no old age.

There are two ways of attaining an important end, force and perseverance; the silent power of the latter grows irresistible with time.

God Himself allows certain faults; and often we say, "I have deserved to err; I have deserved to be ignorant.

Love sometimes elevates, creates new qualities, suspends the working of evil inclinations; but only for a day. Love, then, is an Oriental despot, whose glance lifts a slave from the dust, and then consigns him to it again.

My sole defense against the natural horror which death inspires is to love beyond it.

The chains which cramp us most are those which weigh on us least.

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.