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

'Genius' which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all.

Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.

To each is given a certain inward talent, a certain outward environment or fortune; to each by wisest combination of these two, a certain maximum capacity.

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

The world is a republic of mediocrities, and always was.

Time is the silent, never-resting thing ... rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all-embracing oceantide, on which we and all the universe swim.