Napoleon said of Massena, that he was not himself until the battle began to go against him; then, when the dead began to fall in ranks around him, aw… - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Moderation in all things, especially moderation.

To stand in true relations with men in a false age is worth a fit of insanity, is it not?

Fear and hope are alike beneath it. There is somewhat low even in hope. In the hour of vision, there is nothing that can be called gratitude, nor properly joy. The soul raised over passion beholds identity and eternal causation, perceives the self-existence of Truth and Right, and calms itself with knowing that all things go well. Vast spaces of nature, the Atlantic Ocean, the South Sea, — long intervals of time, years, centuries, — are of no account. This which I think and feel underlay every former state of life and circumstances, as it does underlie my present, and what is called life, and what is called death.