583 quotes
London is the epitome of our times, and the Rome of to-day.
There is a freemasonry among the dull by which they recognize and are sociable with the dull, as surely as a correspondent tact in men of genius.
Journals (1822)
Though love repine, and reason chafe,
There came a voice without reply, —
"'T is man's perdition to be safe
When for the truth he ought to die."
May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
The house is a castle which the King cannot enter.
The highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato and Milton is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they, thought.
Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.
Essays: Second Series (1844)
There is properly no history, only biography.
It is said that the world is in a state of bankruptcy, that the world owes the world more than the world can pay, and ought to go into chancery, and be sold.
Essays: second series (1844)
A mollusk is a cheap edition [of man] with a suppression of the costlier illustrations, designed for dingy circulation, for shelving in an oyster-bank or among the seaweed.
Power and Laws of Thought (1870)
The saint and poet seek privacy to ends the most public and universal: and it is the secret of culture, to interest the man more in his public, than in his private quality.
When Shakespeare is charged with debts to his authors, Landor replies, "Yet he was more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead bodies and brought them into life."
Letters and Social Aims (1876)
The word liberty in the mouth of Mr. Webster sounds like the word love in the mouth of a courtesan.
Journals (1822)
Alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine are weak dilutions. The surest poison is time.
Letters and Social Aims (1876)
Good bye, proud world! I'm going home;
Thou art not my friend; I am not thine.
Poems (1847)
Everything in the universe goes by indirection. There are no straight lines.
Society and Solitude (1870)
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing.
Nature (1836)
The thing done avails, and not what is said about it. An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the censures.
English Traits (1856)
We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples.
Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any.
Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, and no force of character can make any stand against good wit.
Letters and Social Aims (1876)