Merit has rarely risen of itself, but a pebble or a twig is often quite sufficient for it to spring from to the highest ascent. There is usually some baseness before there is any elevation.

We cannot at once catch the applauses of the vulgar and expect the approbation of the wise.

God scatters beauty as he scatters flowers O'er the wide earth, and tells us all are ours. A hundred lights in every temple burn, And at each shrine I bend my knee in turn.

We cannot conquer fate and necessity, yet we can yield to them in such a manner as to be greater than if we could.

No good writer was ever long neglected; no great man overlooked by men equally great. Impatience is a proof of inferior strength, and a destroyer of what little there may be.

We talk on principal, but act on motivation.

All schools of philosophy, and almost all authors, are rather to be frequented for exercise than for weight.