“The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to live to the point.”

“The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to live with purpose.”

“The greatest and glorious masterpiece of a man is how to live with a purpose.”

“To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.”

“The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful; the best occupations are the least forced.”

“How many we know who have fled the sweetness of a tranquil life in their homes, among the friends, to seek the horror of uninhabitable deserts; who have flung themselves into humiliation, degradation, and the contempt of the world, and have enjoyed these and even sought them out.”

“No man is so exquisitely honest or upright in living, but that ten timesin his life he might not lawfully be hanged.”