Armed Soldier, terrible as Death, relentless as Doom; doing God's judgement on the Enemies of God. It is a phenomenon not of joyful nature; no, but of awful, to be looked at with pious terror and awe.

Statistics, one may hope, will improve gradually, and become good for something. Meanwhile, it is to be feared the crabbed satirist was partly right, as things go: "A judicious man," says he, "looks at Statistics, not to get knowledge, but to save himself from having ignorance foisted on him."

The real use of gunpowder is to make all men tall.

I should say sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic.

Books are a triviality. Life alone is great.

The vulgarity of inanimate things requires time to get accustomed to; but living, breathing, bustling, plotting, planning, human vulgarity is a species of moral ipecacuanha, enough to destroy any comfort.

Democracy will itself accomplish the salutary universal change from delusive to real, and make a new blessed world of us by and by.