I hate to be near the sea, and to hear it roaring and raging like a wild beast in its den. It puts me in mind of the everlasting efforts of the human mind, struggling to be free, and ending just where it began.

More from "Common Places," No. 60, The Literary Examiner (September - December 1823)

• All that is worth remembering in life, is the poetry of it.
• Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.
• Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone — but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.
• Grace has been defined the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.
• Grace is the absence of every thing that indicates pain or difficulty, or hesitation or incongruity.
• Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts.