But it is impossible, I find, to tidy books without ending by sitting on the floor in the middle of a great untidiness and reading.

Guests can be, and often are, delightful, but they should never be allowed to get the upper hand.

Well, I for one am unable to imagine how anybody who lives with an intelligent and devoted dog can every be lonely.

[Walking] is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.

Who can begin conventional amiability the first thing in the morning?

if you have once thoroughly bored somebody it is next to impossible to unbore him.

I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow.