“Those who would attain to any marked degree of excellence in a chosen pursuit must work, and work hard for it, prince or peasant.”

The clouds are scudding across the moon, A misty light is on the sea; The wind in the shrouds has a wintry tune, And the foam is flying free.

Sometimes an hour of Fate’s serenest weather Strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams; Somewhere above us, in elusive ether, Waits the fulfilment of our dearest dreams.

Death is not rare, alas! nor burials few, And soon the grassy coverlet of God Spreads equal green above their ashes pale.

The stream from Wisdom’s well, Which God supplies, is inexhaustible.

Love is better than Fame.

Sweeter than the stolen kiss Are the granted kisses

From the desert I come to thee, On a stallion shod with fire; And the winds are left behind In the speed of my desire.

Peace the offspring is of Power.

The bravest are the most tender; the loving are the daring.

The Poet’s leaves are gathered one by one, In the slow process of the doubtful years.

To learn by observation is traveling, people must also bring knowledge with them.

London has the advantage of one of the most gloomy atmospheres in the world.

Labor, you know, is prayer.

Above Coblentz almost every mountain has a ruin and a legend. One feels everywhere the spirit of the past, and its stirring recollections come back upon the mind with irresistible force.

Mock jewelry on a woman is tangible vulgarity.

Melrose is the finest remaining specimen of Gothic architecture in Scotland. Some of the sculptured flowers in the cloister arches are remarkably beautiful and delicate, and the two windows – the south and east oriels – are of a lightness and grace of execution really surprising.

To be nobody-but-yourself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

The hardest fight a man has to fight is to live in a world where every single day someone is trying to make you someone you do not want to be–

The hardest fight a man has to fight is to live in a world where every single day someone is trying to make you someone you do not want to be–

Sometimes I feel like what’s hard for fashion designers to do is take looks from off the runway and actually put it into existence, into reality. That’s really the hard part.

Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.

You can beat the drum so hard that people stop listening. I wanted to use my voice wisely and not expend it wastefully.

Your separation from God is the hardest work you will ever do.

Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.