There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.

To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch the renewal of life - this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.

One discovers a friend by chance, and cannot but feel regret that 20 or 30 years of life may have been spent without the least knowledge of him.

If there was any petting to be done...he chose to do it. Often he would sit looking at me, and then, moved by a delicate affection, come and pull at my coat and sleeve until he could touch my face with his nose, and then go away contented.

The boy who expects every morning to open into a new world finds that today is like yesterday, but he believes tomorrow will be different.

I do not know the names of all the weeds and plants, I have to do as Adam did in his garden... name things as I find them.

Lettuce is like conversation; it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it.