Better that we should err in action than wholly refuse to perform. The storm is so much better than the calm, as it declares the presence of a living principle. Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption also.

It should console us for the fact that sin has not totally disappeared from the world, that the saints are not wholly deprived of employment.

The dread of criticism is the death of genius.

Our possessions are wholly in our performances. He owns nothing to whom the world owes nothing.

No doubt solitude is wholesome, but so is abstinence after a surfeit. The true life of man is in society.

To feel oppressed by obligation is only to prove that we are incapable of a proper sentiment of gratitude. To receive favors from the unworthy is simply to admit that our selfishness is superior to our pride. Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful for them. The proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.

Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption, also.