“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every
moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of
the adopted talent of another you have only extemporaneous half possession.
That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach
him ... Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or
Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? ... Do that which is assigned to you,
and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.”
“We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of
its truth and organs of its activity. When we discern justice, when we discern
truth, we do nothing of ourselves, but allow a passage to its beams.”
“Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the
better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty
and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Selfreliance
is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and
customs. Who would be a man, must be a nonconformist.”