What people do who go into politics I can't think; it drives me almost mad to see mismanagement over only a few hundred acres.

I will to make life less bitter for a few within my reach.

It is hard to believe long together that anything is "worth while," unless there is some eye to kindle in common with our own, some brief word uttered now and then to imply that what is infinitely precious to us is precious alike to another mind.

Our sense of duty must often wait for some work which shall take the place of dilettanteism [sic] and make us feel that the quality of our action is not a matter of indifference.

The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.

If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.

A man falling into dark waters seeks a momentary footing even on sliding stones.