Men grind and grind in the mill of a truism, and nothing comes out but what was put in. But the moment they desert the tradition for a spontaneous thought, then poetry, wit, hope, virtue, learning, anecdote, and all flock to their aid.
A certain awkwardness marks the use of borrowed thoughts; but as soon as we have learned what to do with them, they become our own.
There is a good ear, in some men, that draws supplies to virtue out of very indifferent nutriment.
If you act, you show character; if you sit still, you show it; if you sleep you show it.
We are all wise for other people, none for himself.
Nature encourages no looseness; pardons no errors.
Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer, has no invention; it is all memory. Reform has no gratitude, no prudence, no husbandry.
Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts.
If it costs ten years, and ten to recover the general prosperity, the destruction of the South is worth so much.
Are you not scared by seeing that the gypsies are more attractive to us than the apostles?
When I have attempted to join myself to others by services, it proved an intellectual trick,-no more. They eat your service like apples, and leave you out. But love them, and they feel you, and delight in you all the time.
Plants are the young of the world, vessels of health and vigor; but they grope ever upward towards consciousness; the trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment, rooted in the ground.
Live in the fields, and God will give you lectures on natural philosophy every day.
Every natural power exhilarates; a true talent delights the possessor first.
The only reward of virtue is virtue.
Do not spill thy soul in running hither and yon, grieving over the mistakes and the vices of others. The one person whom it is most necessary to reform is yourself.
When the Master of the universe has points to carry in his government he impresses his will in the structure of minds.
Skepticism? Yes, but a saint is a skeptic once in twenty-four hours.
A man cannot speak but he judges himself.
It takes a good deal of character to judge a person by his future instead of his past.