The eye is easily frightened.
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
Fame is proof that the people are gullible.
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or sides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profound thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.
The less government we have the better.
Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? Whence, then, this worship of the past?
Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
There is no sincerer love than the love of food.
I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez, and Rembrandt; in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by Beauty everlasting, and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed. Amen. Amen.
It isn’t making mistakes that’s critical; it’s correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents.
The pest of society are the egotist, they are dull and bright, sacred and profane, course and fine. It is a disease that like the flu falls on all constitutions.
The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect.
If I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.
If you shoot at a king you must kill him.
Earth laughs in flowers.
If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.
The line of beauty is the line of perfect economy.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
