“To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality.”

“Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know in life.”

“All great art is the expression of man's delight in God's work, not his own.”

“Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive energy, full of expression, passion, and strength.”

“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”

“To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.”

“Cookery means…English thoroughness, French art, and Arabian hospitality; it means the knowledge of all fruits and herbs and balms and spices; it means carefulness, inventiveness, and watchfulness.”