... the life of the mind is reality, and love without romantic illumination is a spiritless matter.

Many of the men who had come to the wilderness to practice religion appeared to have forgotten its true nature.

I had no place in any coterie, or in any reciprocal self-advertising. I stood alone. I stood outside. I wanted only to learn. I wanted only to write better.

There is only one force stronger than selfishness, and that is stupidity.

The government's like a mule, it's slow and it's sure; it's slow to turn, and it's sure to turn the way you don't want it.

Do you know there is always a barrier between me and any man or woman who does not like dogs?

There is a terrible loneliness in the spring.