I cannot get any sense of an enemy - only of a disaster.

[Hawthorne''s] pious blame is a chuckle of praise all the while.

Don't be on the side of the angels, it's too lowering.

You feel free in Australia. There is great relief in the atmosphere - a relief from tension, from pressure, an absence of control of will or form. The Skies open above you and the areas open around you.

I believe a man is born first unto himself - for the happy developing of himself, while the world is a nursery, and the pretty things are to be snatched for, and pleasant things tasted; some people seem to exist thus right to the end. But most are born again on entering manhood; then they are born to humanity, to a consciousness of all the laughing, and the never-ceasing murmur of pain and sorrow that comes from the terrible multitudes of brothers.

I want the wonder back again, or I shall die.

I am convinced that the air we normally breathe is a kind of water, and men and women are a species of fish.