George F. Hoar: “If the phrase that occurs to you does not exactly fit the thought, you are almost certain, especially in speaking or…”

We bring you a more costly and precious gift than any jewel or diadem, though it came from an Emperor's treasury.

We speak of a light that makes darkness visible; and similarly there are sounds that deepen the long intervals of silence with which they alternate.

The language Statius uses is more simple than mine; but this is substantially the picture he gives: and I know of nothing that so impresses on the imagination the thunder of the power of the Roman Empire as this creation in the wilderness…

We bring you the heart's love of Boston where you were born, and Worcester where you took the early vows you have kept so well; of Massachusetts who knows she has no worthier son, and of the great and free country to whom you have taught…