“ To illustrate the great truth lately enuciated at Edinburgh by a learned Professor, who, in speaking of talent, industry, and character, said, "talent is perhaps the most shining of the three, but, without industry and character talent cannot win its way through the world—the last two are the main elements that can carry man or woman through life." I do not claim to have talent to any very shining extent, but I can proudly say, that to industry and being a character I owe my mercantile success and prosperity. ”

“ Perhaps my feelings on being a charity scholar would have been different had my father been able to have paid for my education. I know that if I have the means, no son of mine shall ever be in the position to have it thrown in his teeth by some low bred scamp, perhaps, that he was taught in a charity school. I dont object to charity schools—not the least—they are noble, praiseworthy institutions, but I would have charity schools for charity scholars. “The right men in the right place,” has become a national cry, why not the right boys in the right place. ”

“ The Great Exhibition was neither more nor less than an immense pack, spread out and shown off to the best advantage. I think Prince Albert must have borrowed the idea from me when he saw me with my pack, at Braemar, so that it may be said that I was the original, or primary cause of the Great Exhibition, which has been reproduced in America, France, and other parts—and yet neither medals were given me, nor honourable mention made of me in connection with it. Another proof to the world that neglect is generally the fate of Genius. ”

“ My parents being unable to support me, I was taken from school when about eight years of age, and sent to earn my livelihood as a weaver’s drawboy. At that occupation I remained several years; and during that period my ardent genius was cramped as much as ever an Apothecary’s apprentice was over his pestle and mortar. As I could not, while pent up in a weaver’s shop, get proper scope for the expansion of my intellectual faculties in a literary way, I turned my attention to politics. There’s no place like a weaver’s shop for studying politics. ”

“ In place of consulting dictionaries and dead languages, had my opinion been asked, I would have settled the question at once—by saying—I am a Bona fide Traveller. Because I do really and truly travel. To be whirled along on a railway; borne down the river, up the lake, or across the ocean in a steamer or ship, or driven along the turnpike in a carriage, is not travelling—the persons are merely live cargo. ”

“ When will the world learn wisdom?
As I grew up my naturally active and ardent mind revolted at the common place drudgery of the loom, and I determined to free myself from its heddles and treddles. Many a time I mentally consigned these articles to the place which Rob Roy wished to see Bailie Nicol Jarvis heddles and treddles sent to. Having heard and read of Packmen I resolved, like Norval of the Grampians, to leave my father’s house, and take with me a chosen well selected pack, and with it push my fortune in the wide, wide world, as a Packman! ”

“ Their system of politics is, take the taxes out of some other body's pockets, not out of ours; they are peace men and denounce war, because it touches their pocket—their religion is mammon—they worship the golden calf—most appropriate deity—they live unrespected, if not detested, yet, as this is a free country, each may have a monument erected to his memory, if he pays for it out of his own pocket. ”

“ Public opinion and fashion are two great powers—more powerful than steam, in their own way. Public opinion declared itself against the breeks usurpation, and was on the eve of crushing it, when another heroine appeared—General Bloomer—and contested the field, and the battle cry, "the rights of women," was loudly beard amidst the strife. After a severe contest, matters were compromised on the footing that the ladies should be allowed to wear feminine breeks, to be called after their leader, "Bloomers." ”

“ Down went the red coats and the halberds, and from that hour Paisley as a corporation, has stood still, notwithstanding the Proclamation painted at the cross, "It is not permitted to stand on the Pavement,"—or if it has progressed, it has been backwards.
The higher the tree, the more it has to encounter the rude winds; and the greater the man, the more is he assailed by the blasts of the splenetic, the waspish, and the malicious. ”

“ We believe that in our waking hours our sensations are more powerful, more vivid than our ideas; and in our sleeping moments it is the reverse—the senses are overcome and ideation resumes the mastery. ”

“ The first glimmer of consciousness—of the knowledge—I am—in the life of a great man is generally, when it can be ascertained, made a matter of much importance and of deep speculation among the learned. ”

“ And as the Highland’s was the place for meat,
I ventur’d there in spite o’ wind and weet.
Since that time I have travelled much, and have seen and marked the selfishness of man, as well as his redeeming qualities. No one can see the various phases of life and character like a packman. The closet philosopher may sit in his study and imagine character, but the packman sees it at every step. Every house he enters with his “needles and preens,” presents a new feature, and could form materials for a story. One crabbed old maid will slap the door in his face. ”

“ Whenever I enter a house and see all in confusion, the breakfast dishes standing unwashed at dinner time, and a dirty slovenly wife, I know that self created poverty is there, and I spend very little time in such a “staun.” ”

“ I consider myself a standard of common sense, and were I a Prince Consort, I might be called The Imperial Standard I have always dealt in a plain, unostentatious way, and nobody can say that I ever cheated even to the extent of a lucifer match, or a corset lace. ”

“ Its all very well for Chamber Students to study, in their closets, Goldsmith’s History of the Earth and Animated Nature, Shakspeare’s Humanity or Humbolt’s Cosmos, and thereby acquire a second-hand view of such things, but a real genuine knowledge of subjects can only be acquired by travelling, and seeing the world as it is, and man with his everyday clothes on. A person’s knowledge ought to be estimated by what he has seen with “his own eyes,” and heard with his own ears—and what he has seen can only be measured by the extent of his travelling, and such travelling must be bona fide. ”

“ A modern writer remarks, “nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.” That must be on account of their rarity, like a certain kind of charity. It is as difficult to find a man of common sense, as a four-leaved clover. ”

“ I do not blush in the least in confessing that I was a charity scholar, seeing that I was the son of a poor but an honest and upright man. Besides, as I have attained to eminence through my own exertions, I am entitled to the greater credit and honour among my fellow-men. ”

“ I was always inclined for peace—peace at any price—so that had I been member for Paisley in the House of Commons, at the time of the Russian War, I would instinctively have joined the Cobden-Bright party, and then Peace and Love joined together might have crumpled up our northern enemies. I believe, however, that war is necessary to establish Peace. With a rampant foe, it is absurd to reason about Peace and arbitration. A blow is the only argument—it convinces, if it does not convert—as Shakespeare says:
“In peace, there’s nothing more becomes a man,
As mild behaviour and humility ”

“ The Philosopher sees in Breeks the sign of man's perogative, his right to the supreme rule in his own house. He cannot, however, shut his eyes to the fact that this right is more nominal than real. From the time when the first Breeks were made till now, the fair sex—"the weaker vessel,"—as they are sometimes erroneously called, will "wear the Breeks." Mrs Socrates, of immortal memory, has been held up as the great representative woman—she was a heroine who wore the Breeks, and no mistake. ”

“ Another of the wonders of the world, is consistency. Where is the consistent man? If I, like Diogenes, were to take a lanthern and go out in search of a consistent man, I would see, as I have seen, strange sights. ”

“ Her Majesty, the Queen, may be said to have been born great; Prince Albert by his marriage; and the Duke by his appointment to the Commander-in-chief-ship of the Army, may be said to have had greatness thrust upon them, while I have achieved my greatness by my own inherent talents and steadiness of purpose.
The next great point of importance after the period of birth is the place where the illustrous person made his debut. The spot where I was born was in the Tenement, No. 26 Queen Street, Paisley. Besides myself, Paisley has given birth to many whom the world delights to honour ”

“ Although I have quoted these lines, and, like some of my contemporary literateurs have, in the course of my life made a few attempts at rhyme I am no Poet, and do not wish to be suspected of such a failing, seeing that Macaulay the Historian in his essay on Milton corroborates Shakespeare's Poetico-lunatic theory, and asserts that "no person can be a Poet, or can even enjoy Poetry without a certain unsoundness of mind."
Some moralists hold that a person has no right to do what he pleases with his own life. ”

“ In one place the Packman sees proud stuck-up persons, who contemptuously turn up their noses at him as if they were somebody. Poor helpless creatures, thinks the Packman as he turns away, you could not eke out existence even at the pack. How lucky it was for you that your father was born before you, or many of you might be in the poorhouse. In another place he is met with the utmost frankness, and, if in the country, he is supposed to be able to tell them all the news. During the war the usual salutation was, come awa man an gae us your crack, what's the news about the Rushians? ”

“ The master of the gaming table can and does divert the ball to the colour he wants, and, as Virgil says, “Fate diverts our course, and fate we must obey.” I believe with Napoleon in destiny. Like the lucky pock at the fair, life is also all prizes, and no blanks; but to be successful we must venture, we must put forth our hand and draw the prize. The cat in gloves catches no mice, says Poor Richard, and the unlucky man has generally himself to blame for his bad luck. Nature is impartial in the distribution of her prizes, and where she falls short in one thing, she makes it up by another. ”

“ Had I been Her Majesty’s representative at Hong Kong, this country would not now have been at war with China, and Messrs. Bright, Cobden, and many other good men and true, would still have been in Parliament. Wars, and rumours of wars, invariably arise from having the wrong men in place, while the right men are in no place at all, as in my own case. ”

“ Aye, and if they would but speak out, far war than that. Talk of Tom Paine's "Rights of Man." Fiddlesticks. There's no such thing—its all theory. But I hear some one say, what has all this got to do with the story of your life, Mr. Love? Nothing, I reply, only it affords another proof that a philosopher cannot write on even common place subjects, without philosophising, and throwing a halo around them. It tests genius. Now for my story.
There are epochs in the life of man as well as in the history of the world. Perhaps the greatest is the first breeks. ”

“ My opinion is that it is not only every man's right, but his duty to make the most he can of his life; and in that opinion I am borne out by a protemporary, Mr Tristram Shandy, who says that "the sweat of a man's brows and the exudations of a man's brains are as much a man's own property as the breeches upon his backside;" ”

“ Many of them no doubt live in fine houses, and fare sumptuously every day, and, in their own estimation, are the great and mighty of the earth, but in this mercantile PHANTASMAGORIA, the scene of fine gentlemanism dissolves, and is followed by prisons and suicides ”

“ I believe the rights of women cry is a mere dodge to prevent or obstruct any legislation on the rights of man. Lord Palmerston must direct his attention to a reform in the home policy. We are in great want of a law defining the rights of man I don't think I'll marry till we have such a law. ”

“ You are a young man, and may, like the Trojan hero, have a vulnerable part. Beware then how you write in future regarding public men like me, or in fact regarding anybody, lest you get your own corns tramped on. ”

“ Campbell. "A Black Pudding?" quoth my Grandfather, "what an idea!" "Mr Love," said my Grandmother, (she always called him Mr Love, for she was a very polite and a very learned woman,) a black pudding is no idea; an idea is not a substance, now a black pudding is a palpable substance ”

“ I here offer to give a copy of this book, "with the Author's compliments" marked on it to any person who, within a year from its publication, will prove that he has, even outwardly, acted in all things consistently, for only three weeks! and besides I will endeavour to get his photograph, with a full chart of his phrenological developement hung up in the Museum of the Paisley Philosophical Society, as one of its greatest curiosities.
Great men, like me, are finger posts on the turnpike roads of time pointing "Onwards." They have always some predominant faculty by which they are distinguished. ”