Once expanded to the dimensions of a larger idea, the mind never returns to its original size.
The great thing in the world is not so much were we stand, as in what direction we are moving.
"An ounce of history is worth a pound of logic."
A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.
A human mind, once stretched to a new idea, never returns to its former dimensions.
Most of the things we do, we do for no better reason than that our fathers have done them or that our neighbors do them, and the same is true of a larger part than we suspect of what we think.
The mode by which the inevitable comes to pass is effort.
It is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return.
Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.
Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing. While we are permitted to scorn nothing but indifference, and do not pretend to undervalue the worldly rewards of ambition, we have seen with our own eyes, beyond and above the gold fields, the snowy heights of honor, and it is for us to bear the report to those who come after us.
