“Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.”

“To minds of a certain cast there is nothing so captivating as simplification and generalization.”

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”

“Personally, I detest any attempt to bring the law into maxims. Maxims are invariably wrong, that is, they are so general and large that they always include something which is not intended to be included.”

“With great employments and vulgar maxims, one is always restless and uneasy : it is not places, but reason, that removes anxiety from the mind.”

“There is some comfort to be had in contemplating the folly of so many dead, don't you think? … and more comfort still in contemplating the continuity.”

“Dead! And so great an artist!”
Qualis artifex pereo!

“I sought her in the grayness and she wasn’t there, she was dead and she wasn’t there, she wouldn’t be there ever again and I could never find comfort in her again. Ellen, beloved, you are dead and your voice is in my mind and only in my mind.”

“An adversary is more hurt by desertion than by slaughter. (General Maxims)”
aduersarium amplius frangunt transfugae quam perempti.

“I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing.”