Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges.

The test of an author is not to be found merely in the number of his phrases that pass current in the corner of newspapers... but in the number of passages that have really taken root in younger minds.

What are Raphael's Madonnas but the shadow of a mother's love, fixed in permanent outline forever?

There is certainly no defence or water -proof garment against adverse fortune which is, on the whole, so effectual as an habitual sense of humor.

How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!

Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes.

Do not waste a minute - not a second - in trying to demonstrate to others the merits of your performance. If your work does not vindicate itself, you cannot vindicate it.