Consolation heaps without contact; somewhat like the blessed air which we need but to breathe.

Since there must be chimeras, why is not perfection the chimera of all men?

Prayer has a right to the word "ineffable." It is an hour of outpourings which words cannot express,--of that interior speech which we do not articulate, even when we employ it.

Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies. The law of contrasts is one of the laws of beauty. Under the conditions of our climate, shadow gives light its worth; sternness enhances mildness; solemnity, splendor. Varying proportions of size support and subserve one another.

We expect everything and are prepared for nothing.

There are but two future verbs which man may appropriate confidently and without pride: "I shall suffer," and "I shall die.

Men do not go out to meet misfortune as we do. They learn it; and we--we divine it.