Man's unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite.

Teach a parrot the terms 'supply and demand' and you've got an economist.

Force, force, everywhere force; we ourselves a mysterious force in the centre of that. "There is not a leaf rotting on the highway but has Force in it: how else could it rot?" [As used in his time, by the word force, Carlyle means energy.]

All work, even cotton-spinning, is noble; work is alone noble.

In every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.

The three great elements of modern civilization, Gun powder, Printing, and the Protestant religion.

A very sea of thought; neither calm nor clear, if you will, yet wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to his utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true orients.