“So true it is, and so terrible, too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. they err who would assert that invariable this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. An when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bides the soul be rid of it.”

“And the drawing near of Death, which alike levels all, alike impresses all with a last revelation, which only an author from the dead could adequately tell.”

“and yet a child’s utter innocence is but its blank ignorance, and the innocence more or less wanes as intelligence waxes.”

“...flight from tyranny does not of itself insure a safe asylum, far less a happy home.”

“Often ill comes from the good, as good from ill.”

“There are times when even the most potent governor must wink at transgression, in order to preserve the laws inviolate for the future.”

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.”

“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”

“Art is the objectification of feeling.”

“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.”

“He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great.”