Adversity is the diamond dust Heaven polishes its jewels with.

Fancy that thou deservest to be hangedthou wilt feel it happiness to be only shot: fancy that thou deservest to be hanged ina hair halter, it will be a luxury to die in hemp.

Man makes circumstances, and spiritually as well as economically, is the artificer of his own fortune.

What an enormous magnifier is tradition! How a thing grows in the human memory and in the human imagination, when love, worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage it

It is a mathematical fact that the casting of this pebble from my hand alters the centre of gravity of the universe.

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.

Culture is the process by which a person becomes all that they were created capable of being.