An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children.
Be always displeased with what you are, if you wish to be what you are not; for where you pleased with yourself, there you have remained.
An observant and reflecting mind seldom despairs; for he who endeavors to search out the reason of things, and to view the world with a philosophic eye, will not easily be overawed by the magnitude of his obstacles.
Those who think that they have done little for truth, because they have not succeeded in combating error, should consider that a man may be more usefully employed in cultivating good corn than in rooting up tares.
It is the lot of man to suffer, and the mission of life is to enable him to bear his sufferings with fortitude.
In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed; we see the most indistinctly the objects which are close around us.
What is a minority? The chosen heroes of this earth have been in a minority. There is not a social, political, or religious privilege that you enjoy today that was not bought for you by the blood and tears and patient suffering of the minority.
There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.
It is one thing to wish to have truth on our side, and another thing to wish to be on the side of truth.
Men are like plants; the goodness and flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow.
It is not what he has, or even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
No man is rich whose expenditures exceed his means; and no one is poor whose incomings exceed his outgoings.
A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.
