Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
On the pinnacle of success man does not stand firm long.
I know nothing more mocking than a devil that despairs.
No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries.
Nature reacts not only to physical disease, but also to moral weakness; when the danger increases; she gives us greater courage.
I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing.
Who longs in solitude to live, Ah! soon his wish will gain: Men hope and love, men get and give, and leave him to his pain.
One man’s word is no man’s word; we should quietly hear both sides.
Life is not anything, but an opportunity for something.
I have found a paper of mine among some others in which I call architecture ‘petrified music.’ Really there is something in this; the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music.
To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.
Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.
Help me to discover Thy truth, O Lord, and preserve me from those who have already found it.
I had toward the poetic art a peculiar relation which was only practical after I had cherished in my mind for a long time a subject which possessed me, a model which inspired me, a predecessor who attracted me, until at length, after I had molded it.
We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies.
It is a mistake for a taciturn, serious-minded woman to marry a jovial man, but not for a serious-minded man to marry a lighthearted woman.
There is nothing in the world more pitiable than an irresolute man, oscillating between two feelings, who would willingly unite the two and who does not perceive that nothing can unite them.
My poor head is in such a whirl, my mind is all in bits.
Everything great and intelligent is in the minority.