"Analysis kills spontaneity." ~ Henri-Frédéric Amiel
To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.
For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.
A belief is not true because it is useful.
The growth and development of the soul is more important than power and glory.
Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough earthliness.
The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.
Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing. ~ Journal Entry, 2/16/1868
Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.
The great artist is the simplifier.
To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius.
Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.
Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be outraged by silence.
We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things.
Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.
It is not what he has, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.