One great mind is surely a higher indication of civilisation than are incalculable leagues of bricks and mortar.
"Your father is hardly so profound as Sir William Jones, or so universal as the Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, but he combines many of the virtues of each.

You may tell him, however, from me that he is mistaken in the analogy which he has traced between the Samoyede and Tamulic word roots." "If you have determined to honour our neighbourhood by a short stay," said I, "you will offend my father very much if you do not put up with him.

He represents the laird here, and it is the laird's privilege, according to our Scottish custom, to entertain all strangers of repute who visit this parish." My sense of hospitality prompted me to deliver this invitation, though I could feel the mate twitching at my sleeves as if to warn me that the offer was, for some reason, an objectionable one.

His fears were, however, unnecessary, for the stranger signified by a shake of the head that it was impossible for him to accept it.
"My friends and I are very much obliged to you," he said, "but we have our own reasons for remaining where we are.

The hut which we occupy is deserted and partly ruined, but we Easterns have trained ourselves to do without most of those things which are looked upon as necessaries in Europe, believing firmly in that wise axiom that a man is rich, not in proportion to what he has, but in proportion to what he can dispense with.