Silence is as deep as eternity, speech a shallow as time.
— Thomas Carlyle
To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.
Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.
Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.
Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom.
There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
Imagination is a poor matter when it has to part company with understanding.
The real use of gunpowder is to make all men tall.
A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.
The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.
Let each become all that he was created capable of being.
Do the duty which lies nearest to you, the second duty will then become clearer.
The three great elements of modern civilization, Gun powder, Printing, and the Protestant religion.
Oh, give us the man who sings at his work.
In every phenomenon the beginning remains always the most notable moment.
The outer passes away; the innermost is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The end of man is action, and not thought, though it be of the noblest.
Science must have originated in the feeling that something was wrong.
Culture is the process by which a person becomes all that they were created capable of being.
Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.
If you look deep enough you will see music; the heart of nature being everywhere music.
Love is not altogether a delirium, yet it has many points in common therewith.
For all right judgment of any man or things it is useful, nay, essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.
Secrecy is the element of all goodness; even virtue, even beauty is mysterious.
The difference between Socrates and Jesus? The great conscious and the immeasurably great unconscious.
Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.
Weak eyes are fondest of glittering objects.
The only happiness a brave person ever troubles themselves in asking about, is happiness enough to get their work done.
The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself.
The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better.
No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, can ever compel the soul of a person to believe or to disbelieve.
Show me the person you honor, for I know better by that the kind of person you are. For you show me what your idea of humanity is.
Old age is not a matter for sorrow. It is matter for thanks if we have left our work done behind us.
No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offence.
Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil; for which reason I have long since as good as renounced it.
It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics.
Imperfection clings to a person, and if they wait till they are brushed off entirely, they would spin for ever on their axis, advancing nowhere.
The world is a republic of mediocrities, and always was.
Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man.
It is a strange trade that of advocacy. Your intellect, your highest heavenly gift is hung up in the shop window like a loaded pistol for sale.
True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. It is not contempt; its essence is love. It issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper.
In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.
A person who is gifted sees the essential point and leaves the rest as surplus.
No violent extreme endures.
Egotism is the source and summary of all faults and miseries.
Clever men are good, but they are not the best.
Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance - the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it; better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.
Conviction never so excellent, is worthless until it coverts itself into conduct.
A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.
Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.
