Fire is the best of servants, but what a master!

I don't pretend to understand the Universe - it's a great deal bigger than I am.

Fire is the best of servants, but what a master!

The modern majesty consists in work. What a man can do is his greatest ornament, and he always consults his dignity by doing it.

Venerable to me is the hard hand,--crooked, coarse,--wherein, notwithstanding, lies a cunning virtue, indispensably royal as of the sceptre of the planet.

I came hither [Craigenputtoch] solely with the design to simplify my way of life and to secure the independence through which I could be enabled to remain true to myself.

In every phenomenon the beginning remains always the most notable moment.