“The longing which men continually feel for rest while engaged in the struggles and stormy turmoils of Life, is an unconscious tending of the heart towards its natural goal, the Grave.”

Interpreting the desire for rest as an instinctive awareness of mortality · Essay, A Sixty-Drop Dose of Laudanum, Drop 9

• Death
• Despair
• Mortality

“Our first efforts, it is true, are not always our happiest. Neither are our first loves. Yet both are most dear to our recollections; for with all first things there is associated a certain mysterious magic.”

Linking first attempts and first loves through the enchantment of memory · Essay, A Sixty-Drop Dose of Laudanum, Drop 1

• Art
• Love
• Memory

“None but exalted spirits, who can calmly look down upon human events and human frailties as from an eminence, are capable of unalterable friendship.”

Linking enduring friendship with patience and breadth of spirit · Essay, A Sixty-Drop Dose of Laudanum, Drop 27

• Friendship
• Truth