Travelers find virtue in a seeming minority in all other countries, and forget that they have left it in a minority at home.

That genius is feeble which cannot hold its own before the masterpieces of the world.

Only yonder magnificent pine-tree... holds her unchanging beauty throughout the year, like her half-brother, the ocean, whose voice she shares; and only marks the flowing of her annual tide of life by the new verdure that yearly submerges all trace of last year's ebb.

Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes.

The Englishman's strong point is his vigorous insularity; that of the American his power of adaptation. Each of these attitudes has its perils. The Englishman stands firmly on his feet, but he who merely does this never advances. The American's disposition is to step forward even at the risk of a fall.

Character shows itself apart from genius as a special thing. The first point of measurement of any man is that of quality.

Life is as inexorable as the sea.