Great minds do indeed react on the society which has made them what they are; but they only pay with interest what they have received.

Grief, which disposes gentle natures to retirement, to inaction, and to meditation, only makes restless spirits more restless.

The best portraits are perhaps those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature; and we are not certain that the best histories are not those in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accuracy; but much is gained in effect. The fainter lines are neglected; but the great characteristic features are imprinted on the mind forever.

I don't mind your thinking slowly; I mind your publishing faster than you think.

The opinion of the great body of the reading public is very materially influenced even by the unsupported assertions of those who assume a right to criticize.

We must judge of a form of government by it's general tendency, not by happy accidents

Complete self-devotion is woman's part.