William Wetmore Story

“Sorrow for a good man's death is in itself a good.”

“Character is the backbone of the soul.”

“Truth is the nursing-mother of genius.”

“The past is our cradle, not our prison; we must not be content to lurk behind the bars of a dead age.”

“Art is the great and universal refreshment.”

“Action is the last resource of those who do not know how to dream.”

“The finest edge is made with the blunt whetstone.”

“The object of art is to crystallize emotion into thought, and then fix it in form.”

“Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of others.”

“Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.”

“The artist must be a solitary soul. He must work in silence, and in silence must he suffer.”

“Men are not so much influenced by what they know as by what they believe.”