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Nature does not capriciously scatter her secrets as golden gifts to lazy pets and luxurious darlings, but imposes tasks when she presents opportunities, and uplifts him whom she would inform. The apple that she drops at the feet of Newton is but a coy invitation to follow her to the stars.

Edwin Percy Whipple

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Edwin Percy Whipple
Age: 67 †
Born: 1819
Born: March 8
Died: 1886
Died: June 16
Author
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Writer
Gloucester
Massachusetts
Follow
Apple
Invitation
Capriciously
Feet
Apples
Drops
Uplifts
Stars
Secrets
Invitations
Darlings
Secret
Gifts
Newton
Scatter
Opportunity
Lazy
Presents
Imposes
Nature
Opportunities
Darling
Pets
Doe
Golden
Uplifting
Luxurious
Would
Tasks
Pet
Inform

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Some men find happiness in gluttony and in drunkenness, but no delicate viands can touch their taste with the thrill of pleasure, and what generosity there is in wine steadily refuses to impart its glow to their shriveled hearts.
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The contemplation of beauty in nature, in art, in literature, in human character, diffuses through our being a soothing and subtle joy, by which the heart's anxious and aching cares are softly smiled away.
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Knowledge, like religion, must be experienced in order to be known.
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A thought embodied and embrained in fit words walks the earth a living being.
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The familiar writer is apt to be his own satirist. Out of his own mouth is he judged.
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Of the three prerequisites of genius the first is soul the second is soul and the third is soul.
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A man of letters is often a man with two natures,--one a book nature, the other a human nature. These often clash sadly.
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A large portion of human beings live not so much in themselves as in what they desire to be. They create what is called an ideal character, in an ideal form, whose perfections compensate in some degree for the imperfections of their own.
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Lord Chatham and Napoleon were ns much actors as Garrick or Talma. Now, an imposing air should always be taken as evidence of imposition. Dignity is often a veil between us and the real truth of things.
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Sydney Smith playfully says that common sense was invented by Socrates, that philosopher having been one of its most conspicuous exemplars in conducting the contest of practical sagacity against stupid prejudice and illusory beliefs.
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Even in social life, it is persistency which attracts confidence, more than talents and accomplishments.
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Genius is not a single power, but a combination of great powers. It reasons, but it is not reasoning it judges, but it is not judgment imagines, but it is not imagination it feels deeply and fiercely, but it is not passion. It is neither, because it is all.
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Whenever you find humour, you find pathos close by its side.
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What does competency in the long run mean? It means to all reasonable beings, cleanliness of person, decency of dress, courtesy of manners, opportunities for education, the delights of leisure, and the bliss of giving.
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No education deserves the name unless it develops thought, unless it pierces down to the mysterious spiritual principle of mind, and starts that into activity and growth.
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Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time.
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Felicity, not fluency of language, is a merit.
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Character is the spiritual body of the person, and represents the individualization of vital experience, the conversion of unconscious things into self-conscious men.
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The minister's brain is often the poor-box of the church.
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The universal line of distinction between the strong and the weak is that one persists the other hesitates, falters, trifles, and at last collapses or caves in.
Edwin Percy Whipple