If only Newton's mind could reach out to the secrets of nature, even his genius could only do it by the homeliest toil.

The works of Bacon are not midsummer-night's dreams, but, like coral islands, they have risen from the depths of truth, and formed their broad surfaces above the ocean by the minutest accretions of persevering labor.

The conceptions of Michael Angelo would have perished like a night's phantasy, had not his industry given them permanence." Salvini contributes the following to the _Century_ as to his habits of study before he had established himself as a past master of tragedy: "I imposed upon myself a new method of study.

While I was busying myself with the part of Saul, I read and reread the Bible, so as to become impregnated with the appropriate sentiments, manners and local color.
When I took up Othello, I pored over the history of the Venetian Republic and that of the Moorish invasion of Spain.

I studied the passions of the Moors, their art of war, their religious beliefs, nor did I overlook the romance of Giraldi Cinthio, in order the better to master that sublime character.