The quote database

Economic independence is a relative condition at best.

As the racial distinction of humanity lies in its social relation, so we find the distinctive gains and losses of humanity to lie also in its social relation. We are more affected by our relation to each other than by our physical environment.

What you imagine, you will think, and what you think, you will become.

To not only take risks, but to be open to life. To accept new views and to be open to new opinions.

It’s also about knowing what you know and what you don’t know. It’s about being open to people and ideas.

All letters, methinks, should be free and easy as one's discourse; not studied as an oration, nor made up of hard words like a charm.

When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong principle at work; and this, for a while, is all I can possibly know of it.

A boy of spirit may acquire a previous and practical experience of the world; and his playfellows may be the future friends of his heart or his interest.

The style shall be simple and familiar; but style is the image of character; and the habits of correct writing may produce, without labour or design, the appearance of art and study.

There are probably as many different dialects for the heart as for the tongue, are there not?

The study of conditions will prove an education in itself and a stimulus to invention.

Peace or harmony between the sexes and individuals does not necessarily depend on a superficial equalization of human beings; nor does it call for the elimination of individual traits and peculiarities.

Yet it is only intelligence and sympathy that can bring us closer to the source of human suffering, and teach us the ultimate way out of it.

The forest is an eternal mediator between winds and gravity in their never-ending struggle for the possession of the waters.

On this bit of the wild world's stage are theatrical lightning changes of scenes—changes that on most mountains would require ten thousand years or more. It is a place of strange and fleeting landscapes; the earth is ever changing like the sky.

Have you anything better or greater to see than the sun, the moon, the stars, the whole earth, the sea?

The more experience we gain, the more progress we can make.

Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly, is impressed upon the subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail.

Life is a mirror, and we find only ourselves reflected in our associates.

Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.

Man should make an art of thinking.

Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle, it is a game.

Every thought, every word is impressed upon it and carried out in amazing detail.

A man cannot deserve adventures; he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs.

The whole point depends upon his being at once humble enough to wonder, and haughty enough to defy.