"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a read more

"Oh! what a vile and abject thing is man unless he can erect
himself above humanity." Here is a bon mot and a useful desire,
but equally absurd. For to make the handful bigger than the
hand, the armful bigger then the arm, and to hope to stride
further than the stretch of our legs, is impossible and
monstrous. . . . He may lift himself if God lend him His hand of
special grace; he may lift himself . . . by means wholly
celestial. It is for our Christian religion, and not for his
Stoic virtue, to pretend to this divine and miraculous
metamorphosis.

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

Besides that, when elsewhere the harvest of wheat is most
abundant, there it comes up less by one-fourth than read more

Besides that, when elsewhere the harvest of wheat is most
abundant, there it comes up less by one-fourth than what you have
sowed. There, methinks, it were a proper place for men to sow
their wild oats, where they would not spring up.
[Lat., Post id, frumenti quum alibi messis maxima'st
Tribus tantis illi minus reddit, quam obseveris.
Heu! istic oportet obseri mores malos,
Si in obserendo possint interfieri.]

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be read more

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be embalmed alive.

All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.

All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and read more

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art
grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; read more

But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art
grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God
which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.

Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.