The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious, and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.

I saw, in looking over Cooper, elements of a comet of 1825 which resemble what I get out for this, from my own observations, but I cannot rely upon my own.

We especially need imagination in science.

Yesterday I had a Shaker visitor, and today a Catholic; and the more I see and hear, the less do I care about church doctrines.

Altogether, St. Louis is a growing place, and the West has a large hand and a strong grasp.

People have to learn sometimes not only how much the heart, but how much the head, can bear.

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.

I am just learning to notice the different colors of the stars, and already begin to have a new enjoyment.

Question everything.

That knowledge which is popular is not scientific.

I had, early in life, a love for staging, but it is fast dying out. Nine hours over a rough road are enough to root out the most passionate love of that kind.

Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.

Small aids to individuals, large aid to masses.

The greatest object in educating is to give a right habit of study.

I would as soon put a girl alone into a closet to meditate as give her only the society of her needle.

I am just through with a summer, and a summer is to me always a trying ordeal.

The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious, and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.

I was born, for instance, incapable of appreciating music.

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.

We travel to learn; and I have never been in any country where they did not do something better than we do it, think some thoughts better than we think, catch some inspiration from heights above our own.

I have never been in any country where they did not do something better than we do it, think some thoughts better than we think, catch some inspiration from heights above our own.

I have worn myself thin trying to find out about this comet, and I know very little now in the matter.

I made observations for three hours last night, and am almost ill today from fatigue; still I have worked all day, trying to reduce the places, and mean to work hard again tonight.

The love of one's own sex is precious, for it is neither provoked by vanity nor retained by flattery; it is genuine and sincere.

To read a book, to think it over, and to write out notes is a useful exercise; a book which will not repay some hard thought is not worth publishing.

It is sad to see a woman sacrificing the ties of the affections even to do good.

The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited in power!

A young sailor boy came to see me today. It pleases me to have these lads seek me on their return from their first voyage, and tell me how much they have learned about navigation.

The Southern character is opposed to haste. Safety is of more worth than speed, and there is no hurry.

As a general rule, people disappoint you as you know them.

I am always the better for open-air breathing, and was certainly meant for the wandering life of the Indian.

I was a little doubtful about the propriety of going to the Mammoth Cave without a gentleman escort, but if two ladies travel alone they must have the courage of men.

Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe.

I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven years ago when I first did this kind of work.

The eye that directs a needle in the delicate meshes of embroidery will equally well bisect a star with the spiderweb of the micrometer.

People have to learn sometimes not only how much the heart but how much the head can bear.

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us and the more we gain the more is our desire the more we see the more we are capable of seeing.

Roosevelt's magic lay in one facet of his personality: He knew how to take the risk. No other man in public life I knew could so readily take the challenge of the new.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.

If it came to saving the life of one priest or sacrificing the life of an entire congregation, the church would save the life of the priest. Which is backwards, of course.

Work is the meat of life, pleasure the dessert.

All literary men are Red Sox fans - to be a Yankee fan in a literate society is to endanger your life.

At the end, the realization is that she had to get to a place in her life where she could drop her guard and make peace with the fact that whether she had a small amount of time, that she had to kind of live it completely through, instead of living by the rules.

You have choices to make about what you do with the rest of your life.

From the standpoint of observation, then, we must regard it as a highly probable hypothesis that the beginnings of the mental life date from as far back as the beginnings of life at large.

I want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.

Any judge who allows an adulterer with a live-in girlfriend to terminate the life of his wife should be impeached.