Quotes from William Gilmore Simms

No doubt solitude is wholesome, but so is abstinence after a surfeit. The true life of man is in society.

I believe that economists put decimal points in their forecasts to show they have a sense of humor.

The apothegm is the most portable form of Truth.... It is thus that the proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly expended in the air.

G?sesc c? numa' a?a po?i tr?i pe lume, f?când mereu câte ceva, de vrei s? nu-nnebune?ti or s? nu scobori mai jos decât câinele ultimului om.

The only true source of politeness is consideration.

We must calculate not on the weather, nor on fortune, but upon God and ourselves. He may fail us in the gratification of our wishes, but never in the encounter with our exigencies.

Not in sorrow freely is never to open the bosom to the sweets of the sunshine.

No errors of opinion can possibly be dangerous in a country where opinion is left free to grapple with them.

The true law of the race is progress and development. Whenever civilization pauses in the march of conquest, it is overthrown by the barbarian.

Tears are the natural penalties of pleasure. It is a law that we should pay for all that we enjoy.

Neither praise or blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe, and honestly to award. These are the true aims and duties of criticism.

Genius is the very eye of intellect and the wing of thought; it is always in advance of its time, and is the pioneer for the generation which it precedes.

Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption, also.

The only true source of politeness is consideration.

The fool is willing to pay for anything but wisdom. No man buys that of which he supposes himself to have an abundance already.

The effect of character is always to command consideration. We sport and toy and laugh with men or women who have none, but we never confide in them.

The only rational liberty is that which is born of subjection, reared in the fear of God and the love of man.

Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful; the proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.

Most men remember obligations, but are not often likely to be grateful; the proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.

Have I done anything for society? I have then done more for myself. Let that question and truth be always present to thy mind, and work without cessation.

The birth of a child is the imprisonment of a soul.

There is no doubt such a thing as chance, but I see no reason why Providence should not make use of it.

Tact is one of the first mental virtues, the absence of it is fatal to the best talent.

The dread of criticism is the death of genius.