“I believe that she and every beautiful object in external nature, claims some sympathy in the breast of the poorest man who breaks his scanty loaf of daily bread.”

Arguing that beauty and nature speak across distinctions of wealth · Speech, Boston, February 1842

• Beauty
• Nature

“Their lives are lives of care and privation, and hard struggles with very stern realities.”

Emphasising the material hardship hidden behind artistic careers · Speech, London, 6 April 1846

• Art
• Mortality

“I believe that she dwells rather oftener in alleys and by-ways than she does in courts and palaces, and that it is good, and pleasant, and profitable to track her out, and follow her.”

Locating moral worth among ordinary and overlooked people · Speech, Boston, February 1842

• Hope
• Truth