Our favorites are few; since only what rises from the heart reaches it, being caught and carried on the tongues of men wheresoever love and letters journey.

Civilization degrades many in order to exalt the few.

Opposition strengthens the manly will.

There is virtue in country houses, in gardens and orchards, in fields, streams and groves, in rustic recreations and plain manners, that neither cities nor universities enjoy.

Health, longevity, beauty, are other names for personal purity; and temperance is the regimen for all.

There are truths that shield themselves behind veils, and are best spoken by implication. Even the sun veils himself in his own rays to blind the gaze of the too curious starer.

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps.