Among the works of man, which human life is rightly employed in perfecting, the first in importance surely is man himself

Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians.

In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race

The duty of man is the same in respect to his own nature as in respect to the nature of all other things, namely not to follow it but to amend it.

Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected can never experience.

Stupidity is much the same all the world over. A stupid person's notions and feelings may confidently be inferred from those which prevail in the circle by which the person is surrounded. Not so with those whose opinions and feelings are an emanation from their own nature and faculties.