Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.

He that works and does some Poem, not he that merely says one, is worthy of the name of Poet.

A man's religion consists, not of the many things he is in doubt of and tries to believe, but of the few he is assured of and has no need of effort for believing.

The nobleness of silence. The highest melody dwells only in silence,--the sphere melody, the melody of health.

A good book is the purest essence of a human soul.

Democracy is, by the nature of it, a self-canceling business: and gives in the long run a net result of zero.

A man--be the heavens ever praised!--is sufficient for himself.