I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. – Henry David Thoreau

We look for some reward of our endeavours and are disappointed; not success, not happiness, not even peace of conscience, crowns our ineffectual efforts to do well. – Robert Louis Stevenson, “Pulvis et umbra,” 1888

The barrenest of all mortals is the sentimentalist. – Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter Scott, in London and Westminster Review, 12 November