“What should I have known or written had I been a quiet, mercantile politician or a lord in waiting? A man must travel, and turmoil, or there is no existence.”

We have fools in all sects, and impostors in most; why should I believe mysteries no one can understand, because written by men who chose to mistake madness for inspiration and style themselves Evangelicals?

A woman who gives any advantage to a man may expect a lover – but will sooner or later find a tyrant.

Reason is so unreasonable, that few people can say they are in possession of it.

The lapse of ages changes all things – time, language, the earth, the bounds of the sea, the stars of the sky, and every thing about, around, and underneath man, except man himself.

Eternity forbids thee to forget.

That music in itself, whose sounds are song, The poetry of speech.

Society is now one polished horde, formed of two mighty tries, the Bores and Bored.

We are all the fools of time and terror: Days Steal on us and steal from us; yet we live, Loathing our life, and dreading still to die.

The dome of thought, the palace of the soul.

Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil.

America is a model of force and freedom and moderation – with all the coarseness and rudeness of its people.

I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs; A palace and a prison on each hand;

The busy have no time for tears.

Socrates said, our only knowledge was “To know that nothing could be known;” a pleasant Science enough, which levels to an ass Each Man of Wisdom, future, past, or present.

Who falls from all he knows of bliss, Cares little into what abyss.

Hatred is the madness of the heart.

Having been an actor and a writer for so long – 20 years or so – I felt that it would be daft to go to one’s grave without having directed. It’s a natural extension of writing and acting, and so I knew it would happen one day.

If America had been discovered as many times as I have, no one would remember Columbus.

I’ve been known to preach.

I’ve been a lot of other things over the years, which we don’t really want to talk about.

Noble ideas, great sentiments have always existed and have always been transmitted, but wars have never ceased.

Is there any more encouraging sign than to see an Indian, who has never been to a university, like our friend Mr. Asutosh Dey here, for example, carrying out original work and finding it recognized by the foremost societies of the world?

My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.

Everything I have done or attempted to do for Scotland has always been for her benefit, never my own and I defy anyone to prove otherwise.