“Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakespeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it.”

“If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.”

“Does not… the ear of Handel predict the witchcraft of harmonic sound?”

“We write from aspiration and antagonism, as well as from experience. We paint those qualities which we do not posses.”

“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

“I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.”

“Every ship is a romantic object, except that we sail in. ”