Mans unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite. – Thomas Carlyle
Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth. – Thomas Carlyle
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green. – Thomas Carlyle
It were a real increase of human happiness, could all young men from the age of nineteen be covered under barrels, or rendered otherwise invisible and there left to follow their lawful studies and callings, till they emerged, sadder and wiser, at the age of twenty-five. – Thomas Carlyle