“If only the Geologists would let me alone, I could do very well, but those dreadful Hammers! I hear the clink of them at the end of every cadence of the Bible verses”

“If some people see angels where others only see empty space, let them paint the angels; only let not anybody else think they can paint an angel too, on any calculated principles of the angelic.”

“What we think or what we know or what we believe is in the end of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do”

“Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.”

“I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.”

“Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.”

“I want to speak to you about the treasures hidden in books; and about the way we find them, and the way we lose them.”