Had not my father succeeded in inspiring the idea that I was something more than something?
The tendency of young men is to conceive it for themselves without assistance; a prolonged puff from the breath of another is nearly sure to make them mad as kings, and not so pardonably.
I see that I might have acted wisely, and did not; but that is a speculation taken apart from my capabilities.

If a man's fate were as a forbidden fruit, detached from him, and in front of him, he might hesitate fortunately before plucking it; but, as most of us are aware, the vital half of it lies in the seed-paths he has traversed.

We are sons of yesterday, not of the morning.

The past is our mortal mother, no dead thing.

Our future constantly reflects her to the soul.