The best poets, after all, exhibit only a tame and civil side of nature. They have not seen the west side of any mountain.

It must be confessed that horses at present work too exclusively for men, rarely men for horses; and the brute degenerates in man's society.

All that is told of the sea has a fabulous sound to an inhabitant of the land and all its products have a certain fabulous quality, as if they belonged to another planet.

Sincerity is a great but rare virtue, and we pardon to it much complaining, and the betrayal of many weaknesses.

In most books, the I, of first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference.

The gold-digger is the enemy of the honest laborer, whatever checks and compensations there may be. It is not enough to tell me that you worked hard to get your gold. So does the Devil work hard. The way of transgressors may be hard in many respects.

A thoroughbred business man cannot enter heartily upon the business of life without first looking into his accounts.