To treat of human actions is to deal wholly with second causes.

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.

I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.

Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.

Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

Meditation and water are wedded for ever.

I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up.

War should be carried on like a monsoon; one changeless determination of every particle towards the one unalterable aim.

Think neither fear nor courage saves us.Unnatural vices are fathered by our heroism. Virtues are forced upon us by our impudent crimes. These tears are shaken from the wrath-bearing tree.

The stars shine as they always do. Same stars. Same sky. Only I am different.

We cannot say that you are spiritually advanced if you are unkind to those around you.

The end of all motion is its beginning; for it terminates at no other end save its own beginning from which begins to be moved and to which it tends ever to return, in order to cease and rest in it.

What's right for New York or California, is not necessarily right for Iowa.

You can take anything, and if you explore it right, you can make it funny.

Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.

I don't like to play rough, but I will if I have to.

We are expanded by tears, we are told, not reduced by them.

We have to use our discontentment to engage rather than disengage - our hope has to be more powerful than our cynicism.