I have much to learn of the Indian, nothing of the missionary.

Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.

I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did. They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of King Tching-thang to this effect: "Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again."

I do not wish, it happens, to be associated with Massachusetts, either in holding slaves or in conquering Mexico. I am a little better than herself in these respects.

Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.

Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who stood their ground.

We are all of us more or less active physiognomists.