The face of nature and civilization in this our country is to a…

In the long run an opinion often borrows credit from the forbearance of its patrons.

Everything about Florence seems to be coloured with a mild violet, like diluted wine.

There are few things more exciting to me, in short, than a psychological reason.

[of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones] [it is] like a vast episode in a sermon preached by a grandly humorous divine; and however we may be entertained by the way, we must not forget that our ultimate duty is to be instructed.

I haven't a creature to talk to...How in Boston, when the evening arrives, and I am tired of reading, and know it would be better to do something else, can I go to the theater? I have tried it, ad nauseam. Likewise calling. Upon whom?"

It's a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.