All that is done in life inclines toward knowledge, abstraction, generality, transfiguration, and transparency Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character. A useless life is an early death. Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds. Love has power to give in a moment what toil can scarcely reach in an age. He who cannot love must learn to flatter.
Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.
The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them. Difficulties increase the nearer we approach our goal. Only the heart without a stain knows perfect ease. That which teaches us to govern ourselves. It is equally a mistake to hold one's self too high, or to rate one's self too cheap.