The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.

As soon as there is life there is danger.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect...

In every work of genius we see our own rejected thoughts.

These times of ours are series and full of calamity, but all times are essentially alike. As soon as there is life there is danger.

Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are conservatives after dinner.

The bitterest tragic element in life to be derived from an intellectual source is the belief in a brute Fate or Destiny.

Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit.

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.

Every artist was first an amateur.

Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.

The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence.

When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.

Immortality. I notice that as soon as writers broach this question they begin to quote. I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.

Whatever limits us, we call Fate.

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.

The key to every man is his thought.... He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.

To be great is to be misunderstood.