Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don’t make it of wood, you must make it of words.
A person of genius should marry a person of character.
I know of no teachers so powerful and persuasive as the little army of specialists. They carry no banners, they beat no drums; but where they are men learn that bustle and push are not the equals of quiet genius and serene mastery.
There is nothing like the dead cold hand of the past to take down our tumid egotism and lead us into the solemn flow of the life of our race.
The preacher’s garment is cut according to the pattern of that of the hearers, for the most part.
Our morality seems to be only a check on the ultimate domination of force, just as our politeness is a check on the impulse of every pig to put his feet in the trough.
Certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man.
Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded.
Any new formula which suddenly emerges in our consciousness has its roots in long trains of thought; it is virtually old when it first makes its appearance among the recognized growths of our intellect.
Lord, bid war’s trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.
There is something frightful in the way in which not only characteristic qualities, but particular manifestations of them, are repeated from generation to generation.
Every man is an omnibus in which his ancestors ride.
Pretty much all law consists in forbidding men to do something that they want to do.
The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms. Very often it does not know what to do with genius.
The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.
Even the wisest woman you talk to is ignorant of something you may know, but an elegant woman never forgets her elegance.
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it around. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it.
A good soldier, like a good horse, cannot be of a bad color.
The minute a phrase, becomes current, it becomes an apology for not thinking accurately to the end of the sentence.
There are three natural anaesthetics: Sleep, fainting, and death.