Amos Bronson Alcott Quotes

The less routine the more life.

Every sin provokes its punishment.

A friendship formed in childhood, in youth,--by happy accident at any stage of rising manhood,--becomes the genius that rules the rest of life.

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.

The best teachers don't allow their own personal views to influence their teaching.

One must espouse some pursuit, taking it kindly at heart and with enthusiasm.

One's outlook is a part of his virtue.

Who knows, the mind has the key to all things besides.

Travel makes all men countrymen, makes people noblemen and kings, every man tasting of liberty and dominion.

Experience converts us to ourselves when books fail us.

Dignity of manner always conveys a sense of reserved force.

Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in mankind, and finds the readiest response.

Many are those who can argue; few are those who can converse

The eyes have a property in things and territories not named in any title-deeds, and are the owners of our choicest possessions.

Ideas in the head set hands about their several tasks.

Labor humanizes, exalts.

Action and blood now get the game. Disdain treads on the peaceful name.

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps.

I consider it the best part of an education to have been born and brought up in the country.

Opposition strengthens the manly will.

Our notion of the perfect society embraces the family as its center and ornament, and this paradise is not secure until children appear to animate and complete the picture.

That is a good book which is opened with expectation, and closed with delight and profit.

Cleanse the fountain if you would purify the streams.

Many can argue - not many converse.

Egotists cannot converse, they talk to themselves only.

Your real influence is measured by your treatment of yourself.

Enthusiasm imparts itself magnetically and fuses all into one happy and harmonious unity of feeling and sentiment.

Fullness is always quiet; agitation will answer for empty vessels only.

Ignorance is innocence - stupidity comes with experience

Civilization degrades the many to exalt the few.

Heaven trims our lamps while we sleep.

Time ripens the substance of a life as the seasons mellow and perfect its fruits. The best apples fall latest and keep longest.

Observation more than books and experience more than persons, are the prime educators.

Would Shakespeare and Raleigh have done their best, would that galaxy have shone so bright in the heavens had there been no Elizabeth on the throne?

Our ideals are our better selves.

Friends are the leaders of the bosom, being more ourselves than we are, and we complement our affections in theirs.

While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be.

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.

Prudence is the footprint of Wisdom.

Good discourse sinks differences and seeks agreements.

The history of books shows the humblest origin of some of the most valued, wrought as these were out of obscure materials by persons whose names thereafter became illustrious. The thumbed volumes, now so precious to thousands, were compiled from personal experiences and owe their interest to touches of inspiration of which the writer was less author than amanuensis, himself the voiced word of life for all times.

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

Nature is the armory of genius. Cities serve it poorly, books and colleges at second hand; the eye craves the spectacle of the horizon; of mountain, ocean, river and plain, the clouds and stars; actual contact with the elements, sympathy with the seasons as they rise and roll.

Success is sweet and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats.

Books are the most mannerly of companions, accessible at all times, in all moods, frankly declaring the author's mind, without offense.

Right is the royal ruler alone; and he who rules with least restraint comes nearest to empire.

The head best leaves to the heart what the heart alone divines.

Sympathy wanting, all is wanting; its personal magnetism is the conductor of the sacred spark that lights our atoms, puts us m human communion, and gives us to company, conversation, and ourselves.