I was dying when you came.

Sublime upon sublime scarcely presents a contrast, and we need a little rest from everything, even the beautiful.

The soul has greater need of the ideal than of the real

Science says the first word on everything, and the last word on nothing.

It is those books which a man possesses but does not read which constitute the most suspicious evidence against him.

I dislike wealth and prosperity, especially that of other men.

Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. . . . For half a century I have been writing thoughts in prose, verse, history, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song. I have tried them all, but I feel I have not said a thousandth part of that which is within me. When I go down to the grave, I can say "I have finished my day's work," but I cannot say "I have finished my life's work."