“I have no alternative between not writing at all, and writing what first comes into my head.”

On his spontaneous, unlaboured approach to composition · Letter

• Composition
• Spontaneity
• Writing

“I find I can always give utterance to my own thoughts and feelings with more readiness, ease, and fluency, on paper than orally.”

Reflecting on the comparative ease of written over spoken expression · Letter

• Conversation
• Expression
• Writing

“Obstinacy and vehemency in opinion are the surest proofs of stupidity.”

Linking rigid, heated opinions to lack of intelligence · As commonly attributed (reported in Treasury of Thought)

• Intelligence
• Obstinacy
• Opinion

“No age, sex, or condition is above or below the absolute necessity of modesty; but without it one is vastly beneath the rank of man.”

Asserting modesty as a universal requirement of human dignity · As commonly attributed (reported in Treasury of Thought)

• Character
• Dignity
• Modesty