Throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people we most despise. Old Curiosity Shop
No one knows how greatness comes to a man. It may lie in his blackness, sleeping, or it may lance into him like those driven fiery particles from outer space. These things, however, are known about greatness: need gives it life and puts it in action; it never comes without pain; it leaves a man changed, chastened, and exalted at the same time--he can never return to simplicity. Sweet Thursday
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world. The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
War being the greatest of evils, all its accessories necessarily partake of the same character. Omoo
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