Look twice, if what you want is a just [36] conception; look once, if
what you want is a sense of beauty."

"It is not history which teaches conscience to be honest; it is the
conscience which educates history. Fact is corrupting--it is we who
correct it by the persistence of our ideal."

"To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To
do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius."

"Duty has the virtue of making us feel the reality of a positive
world, while at the same time detaching us from it."

"As it is impossible to be outside God, the best is consciously to
dwell in Him."

"He also (the Son of Man), He above all, is the great Misunderstood,
the least comprehended."

"The pensee writer is to the philosopher what the dilettante is to
the artist."

There are some, we know, who hold that genius cannot, in the nature
of things, be "sterile"; that there are no "mute" Miltons, or the
like. Well! genius, or only a very distinguished talent, the gift
which Amiel nursed so jealously did come into evidence. And the [37]
reader, we hope, sees also already how well his English translator
has done her work. She may justly feel, as part at least of the
reward of a labour which must have occupied much time, so many of the