For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
The infinite, absolute character of Virtue has passed into a finite, conditional one; it is no longer a worship of the Beautiful… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Thought, true labor of any kind, highest virtue itself, is it not the daughter of Pain? — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Men are to be guided only by their self-interests. Good government is a good balancing of these; and, except a keen eye… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Venerable to me is the hard hand,--crooked, coarse,--wherein, notwithstanding, lies a cunning virtue, indispensably royal as of the sceptre of the planet. — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Secrecy is the element of all goodness; even virtue, even beauty is mysterious. — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Friendship, in the old heroic sense of that term, no longer exists. It is in reality no longer expected or recognized as… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
He who talks much about virtue in the abstract, begins to be suspected; it is shrewdly guessed that where there is great… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Might and right do differ frightfully from hour to hour, but then centuries to try it in, they are found to be… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
If I say that Shakespeare is the greatest of intellects, I have said all concerning him. But there is more in Shakespeare's… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
O thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create,… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men. — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property, of… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is affected by the licentious passions and vices… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
The glory of a workman, still more of a master workman, that he does his work well, ought to be his most precious possession;… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
All human things do require to have an ideal in them; to have some soul in them. — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Insurrection, never so necessary, is a most sad necessity; and governors who wait for that to instruct them are surely getting into the fatalest… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
Let Time and Chance combine, combine! Let Time and Chance combine! The fairest love from heaven above, That love of yours was mine, My… — Thomas Carlyle Copy Share Image
