But genius looks forward: the eyes of men are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

A great man is always willing to be little.

Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side.

My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding. My life should be unique; it should be an alms, a battle, a conquest, a medicine.