The method of the critic is to balance praises with censure, and thus to do justice to the subject and – his own discrimination.
No work deserves to be criticized that has not much in it that deserves to be applauded.
It is easier to die bravely than to live so.
It is one of the arts of a great beauty to heighten the effect of her charms by affecting to be sweetly unconscious of them.
Beauty can afford to laugh at distinctions: it is itself the greatest distinction.
Truth, like the sun, submits to be obscured; but, like the sun, only for a time.
Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers.
As many suffer from too much as too little.
Hope is the best part of our riches.
Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources.
Activity and sadness are incompatible.
Sensitiveness is closely allied to egotism; and excessive sensibility is only another name for morbid self-consciousness. The cure for tender sensibilities is to make more of our objects and less of our selves.
Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys.
The activity of the young is like that of railcars in motion – they tear along with noise and turmoil, and leave peace behind them. The quietest nooks, invaded by them, lose their quietude as they pass, and recover it only on their departure.
The use we make of our fortune determines its sufficiency. A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.
In a contest with a weaker party it is more honorable to yield than to force concession. Magnanimity becomes the strong.
Every war involves a greater or less relapse into barbarism. War, indeed, in its details, is the essence of inhumanity. It dehumanizes. It may save the state, but it destroys the citizen.
It is curious to what a degree one may become attached to a fine tree, especially when it is placed where trees are rare.
New situations inspire new thoughts. Here is the benefit of travelling, much more than in mere sight-seeing. We lose ourselves in the streets of our own city, and go abroad to find ourselves.
All power is indeed weak compared with that of the thinker. He sits upon the throne of his Empire of Thought, mightier far than they who wield material sceptres.