Superstition! that horrid incubus which dwelt in darkness, shunning the light, with all its racks, and poison chalices, and foul sleeping draughts, is passing away without return. Religion cannot pass away. The burning of a little straw may hide the stars of the sky; but the stars are there and will reappear.

The suffering man ought really to consume his own smoke; there is no good in emitting smoke till you have made it into fire.

Not what you possess but what you do with what you have, determines your true worth.

Experience of actual fact either teaches fools or abolishes them.

The sincere alone can recognize sincerity.

Is man’s civilization only a wrappage, through which the savage nature of him can still burst, infernal as ever?

There is a majesty and mystery in nature, take her as you will. The essence of poetry comes breathing to a mind that feels from every province of her empire.