Work, ah! that talisman to guard one against one's self. [ Mrs. Campbell Praed ]

To the diamond is attributed the virtue of the talisman, and it is even said that he who wears the stone is always assured of victory, however numerous his enemies may be. [ Garcias ab Horto ]

All the fairy tales of Aladdin, or the invisible Gyges, or the talisman that opens kings palaces, or the enchanted halls underground or in the sea, are only fictions to* indicate the one miracle of intellectual enlargement. [ Emerson ]

A talisman that shall turn base metal into precious, Nature acknowledges not; but a talisman to turn base souls into noble, Nature has given us; and that is a philosopher's stone, but it is a stone which the builders refuse. [ John Ruskin ]

In former days various superstitious rites were used to exorcise evil spirits, but in our times the same object is attained, and beyond comparison more effectually, by the press; before this talisman, ghosts, vampires, witches, and all their kindred tribes are driven from the land, never to return again; the touch of holy water is not so intolerable to them as the smell of printing ink. [ J. Bentham ]