Part i Quotes
433 quotes
"Meredith is a prose Browning, and so is Browning. He used poetry as a medium for writing in prose."
"There is no mode of action, no form of emotion, that we do not share with the lower animals. It is only by language that we rise above them, or above each other—by language, which is the parent, and not the child, of thought."
"Truth, in the matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived."
"Oh! journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read."
"Puritans cannot destroy a beautiful thing, yet, by means of their extraordinary prurience, they can almost taint beauty for a moment. It is chiefly, I regret to say, through journalism that such people find expression. I regret it because there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community."
"I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood."
"The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it."
"It is well for his peace that the saint goes to his martyrdom. He is spared the sight of the horror of his harvest."
"Action ... is the last resource of those who know not how to dream."
"There is much to be said in favor of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not."
"I could never divide myself from any man upon the difference of an opinion, or be angry with his judgement for not agreeing with me in that, from which perhaps within a few days I should dissent myself."
"A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet be forced to surrender."
"Rich with the spoils of Nature."
"I love to lose myself in a mystery to pursue my reason to an O altitudo."
"I have often admired the mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret Magic of numbers."
"The severe Schools shall never laugh me out of the Philosophy of Hermes, that this visible world is but a picture of the invisible."
"We carry with us the wonders, we seek without us: There is all Africa, and her prodigies in us; we are that bold and adventurous piece of nature, which he that studies, wisely learns in a compendium, what others labour at in a divided piece and endless volume."
"Art is the perfection of nature."
"Obstinacy in a bad cause, is but constancy in a good."
"Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant Religion."
"Thus is man that great and true Amphibium, whose nature is disposed to live not only like other creatures in diverse elements, but in divided and distinguished worlds."
"This reasonable moderator, and equal piece of justice, Death."
"I am not so much afraid of death, as ashamed thereof; 'tis the very disgrace and ignominy of our natures, that in a moment can so disfigure us that our nearest friends, Wife, and Children stand afraid and start at us."
"Men that look no further than their outsides, think health an appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their constitutions for being sick; but I that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments that fabric hangs, do wonder that we are not always so; and considering the thousand doors that lead to death, do thank my God that we can die but once."
"We vainly accuse the fury of guns, and the new inventions of death; it is in the power of every hand to destroy us, and we are beholden unto every one we meet he doth not kill us."
"I believe the world grows near its end, yet is neither old nor decayed, nor will ever perish upon the ruins of its own principles."
"How shall the dead arise, is no question of my faith; to believe only possibilities, is not faith, but mere philosophy."
"The heart of man is the place the devil dwells in; I feel sometimes a hell within myself."
"There is no road or ready way to virtue."
"It is admirable to consider how many Millions of People come into, and go out of the World, Ignorant of themselves, and of the World they have lived in."
"Children had rather be making of Tools and Instruments of Play; Shaping, Drawing, Framing, and Building, &c. than getting some Rules of Propriety of Speech by Heart: And those also would follow with more Judgment, and less Trouble and Time."
"It were Happy if we studied Nature more in natural Things; and acted according to Nature; whose rules are few, plain and most reasonable."
"They have a Right to censure, that have a Heart to help: The rest is Cruelty, not Justice."
"Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children."
"Friendship is the next Pleasure we may hope for: And where we find it not at home, or have no home to find it in, we may seek it abroad. It is an Union of Spirits, a Marriage of Hearts, and the Bond thereof Vertue."
"There can be no Friendship where there is no Freedom. Friendship loves a free Air, and will not be penned up in streight and narrow Enclosures. It will speak freely, and act so too; and take nothing ill where no ill is meant; nay, where it is, ’twill easily forgive, and forget too, upon small Acknowledgments."
"Friends are true Twins in Soul; they Sympathize in every thing, and have the Love and Aversion. One is not happy without the other, nor can either of them be miserable alone. As if they could change Bodies, they take their turns in Pain as well as in Pleasure; relieving one another in their most adverse Conditions.What one enjoys, the other cannot Want. Like the Primitive Christians, they have all things in common, and no Property but in one another."
"In all debates let truth be thy aim; not victory or an unjust interest; and endeavor to gain rather than to expose thy antagonist."
"Zeal ever follows an appearance of truth, and the assured are too apt to be warm; but it is their weak side in argument; zeal being better shown against sin than persons, or their mistakes."
"It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable."
"Hasty resolutions are of the nature of vows, and to be equally avoided."
"Fidelity has enfranchised slaves, and adopted servants to be sons"
"As Puppets are to Men, and Babies to Children, so is Man’s Workmanship to God’s: We are the Picture, he the Reality."
"The Country is both the Philosopher’s Garden and his Library, in which he Reads and Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God."
"Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us."
"Rex & Tyrannus are very different Characters: One Rules his People by Laws, to which they consent; the other by his absolute Will and Power."
"Let the People think they Govern and they will be Governed."
"Private men, in fine, are so much their own, that, paying common dues, they are sovereigns of all the rest. Yet the public must and will be served; and they that do it well, deserve public marks of honour and respect. To do so, men must have public minds, as well as salaries; or they will serve private ends at the public cost. Government can never be well administered, but where those intrusted make conscience of well discharging their places."
"It were better to be of no Church, than to be bitter for any."
"A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it. Some Folks think they may Scold, Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too; so it be but for God's sake. But nothing in us unlike him, can please him."
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