“Human calculation cannot limit the influence of one atom of wholesome knowledge patiently acquired, modestly possessed, and faithfully used.”

Celebrating the far-reaching effects of knowledge used with humility · Speech, Birmingham and Midland Institute, 27 September 1869

• Hope
• Truth

“It is a society in which the word exclusiveness is wholly unknown.”

Praising an institution for rejecting narrow privilege · Speech, London, 14 April 1851

• Friendship
• Truth

“I have also a notion that any number of bundles of the driest legal chaff that ever was chopped would be cheaply expended for one really meritorious engraving.”

Humorously asserting the enduring public worth of visual art · Speech, Artists' Benevolent Fund, London, 8 May 1858

• Art
• Humour