Too much principle is often more harmful than too little.

The suitable is the last thing we ever want.

you can't fit the same religion to every man any mo' than you can the same pair of breeches. The big man takes the big breeches an' the little man takes the small ones, an' it's jest the same with religion. It may be cut after one pattern, but it's might apt to get its shape from the wearer inside. Why, thar ain't any text so peaceable that it ain't drawn blood from somebody.

Evidently, whatever else marriage might prevent, it was not a remedy for isolation of spirit.

It would appear, from the best examples, that the proper way of beginning a preface to one's work is with a humble apology for having written at all.

I liked human beings, but I did not love human nature.

And where was happiness if it sprung not from the soil? Where contentment if it dwelt not near to Nature?