WE begin to die not in our sense or extremities, but in our divine faculties.

They are not callow like the young of most birds, but more perfectly developed and precocious even than chickens. The remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. They suggest not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by experience. Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects. The woods do not yield another such a gem.

Almost any mode of observation will be successful at last, for what is most wanted is method.

We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers.

Scholars are wont to sell their birthright for a mess of learning.

I would remind my countrymen, that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour. No matter how valuable law may be to protect your property, even to keep soul and body together, if it do not keep you and humanity together.

Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit.