“Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.”

“A man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.”

“Yet in opinions look not always back,--Your wake is nothing, mind the coming track;Leave what you've done for what you have to do;Don't be "consistent," but be simply true.”

“Life transforming ideas have always come to me through books.”

“Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked”

“The Last LeafI saw him once before,As he passed by the door,And againThe pavement stones resound,As he totters o'er the groundWith his cane.They say that in his prime,Ere the pruning-knife of TimeCut him down,Not a better man was foundBy the Crier on his roundThrough the town.But now he walks the streets,And looks at all he meetsSad and wan,And he shakes his feeble head,That it seems as if he said,"They are gone."The mossy marbles restOn the lips that he has prestIn their bloom,And the names he loved to hearHave been carved for many a yearOn the tomb.My grandmamma has saidPoor old lady, she is deadLong agoThat he had a Roman nose,And his cheek was like a roseIn the snow;But now his nose is thin,And it rests upon his chinLike a staff,And a crook is in his back,And a melancholy crackIn his laugh.I know it is a sinFor me to sit and grinAt him here;But the old three-cornered hat,And the breeches, and all that,Are so queer!And if I should live to beThe last leaf upon the treeIn the spring,Let them smile, as I do now,At the old forsaken boughWhere I cling.”

“Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”