Of all kinds of ambition, that which pursues poetical fame is the wildest

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Blame where you must, be candid where you can, And be each critic the Good-natured Man.

To make a fine gentleman, several trades are required, but chiefly a barber.

One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title page, another works away at the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.

People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.

I love everything that's old, - old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.

A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.

Ridicule has always been the enemy of enthusiasm, and the only worthy opponent to ridicule is success.

Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same.

Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.

When the sounds of the world around you vanish, what is left but screaming silence.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but at last it was complete.

If Lincoln were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave.

To plead for the Oppress'd and to defend the Weak seem'd to me a generous undertaking; for tho' it may be secure, 'tis not always Honourable to run over to the strongest party.

When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.

The world is the closed door. It is a barrier. And at the same time it is the way through.

You have no idea how expensive it is to look this cheap.

I think I'm lucky that I had kids as spread out as much as I did, 'cause my son, my oldest, was born when I was 21. And my youngest is 15 now. He was born when I was 40, you know?

...If our houses, or clothes, our household furniture and utensils are not works of art, they are either wretched makeshifts, or, what is worse, degrading shams of better things.