Maria Mitchell Quotes - Page 2

To read a book, to think it over, and to write out notes is a useful exercise; a book which will not repay some hard thought is not worth publishing.

I have worn myself thin trying to find out about this comet, and I know very little now in the matter.

People have to learn sometimes not only how much the heart, but how much the head, can bear.

That knowledge which is popular is not scientific.

I was born, for instance, incapable of appreciating music.

I made observations for three hours last night, and am almost ill today from fatigue; still I have worked all day, trying to reduce the places, and mean to work hard again tonight.

I would as soon put a girl alone into a closet to meditate as give her only the society of her needle.

A traveller, lost on a desert plain, feels that the recognition of one star, the Pole star, is of itself a great acquisition.

The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited in power!

I was a little doubtful about the propriety of going to the Mammoth Cave without a gentleman escort, but if two ladies travel alone they must have the courage of men.

Women, more than men, are bound by tradition and authority. What the father, the brother, the doctor, and the minister have said has been received undoubtingly. Until women throw off this reverence for authority they will not develop.

The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.

Let us secure not such books as people want, but books just above their wants, and they will reach up to take what is put out for them.

The Southern character is opposed to haste. Safety is of more worth than speed, and there is no hurry.

A young sailor boy came to see me to-day. It pleases me to have these lads seek me on their return from their first voyage, and tell me how much they have learned about navigation.

The love of one's own sex is precious, for it is neither provoked by vanity nor retained by flattery; it is genuine and sincere.

It is sad to see a woman sacrificing the ties of the affections even to do good.

I am just learning to notice the different colors of the stars, and already begin to have a new enjoyment.

I am always the better for open-air breathing, and was certainly meant for the wandering life of the Indian.

Small aids to individuals, large aid to masses.

Altogether, St. Louis is a growing place, and the West has a large hand and a strong grasp.

An English village could never be mistaken for an American one: the outline against the sky differs; a thatched cottage makes a very wavy line on the blue above.

I saw, in looking over Cooper, elements of a comet of 1825 which resemble what I get out for this, from my own observations, but I cannot rely upon my own.