“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”

“Whether one show one's self a man of genius in science or compose a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, the deed, is living and can live on.”

“A person hears only what they understand.”

“Duty is the demand of the hour.”

“He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.”

“The results of life are uncalculated and uncalculable. The years teach much which the days never know. The persons who compose our company, converse, and come and go, and design and execute many things, and somewhat comes of it all, but an unlooked for result. The individual is always mistaken. He designed many things, and drew in other persons as coadjutors, quarrelled with some or all, blundered much, and something is done; all are a little advanced, but the individual is always mistaken. It turns out somewhat new, and very unlike what he promised himself.”

“There is no greater mistake than to suppose that platitudes, smooth words, timid policies, offer today a path to safety.”

“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”