I would remind my countrymen that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour.

Summer passes into autumn in some unimaginable point of time, like the turning of a leaf.

All questions rely on the present for their solution. Time measures nothing but itself. The word that is written may be postponed,but not that on the lip. If this is what the occasion says, let the occasion say it.

Having each some shingles of thought well dried, we sat and whittled them.

Love is the profoundest of secrets. Divulged, even to the beloved, it is no longer Love. As if it were merely I that loved you. When love ceases, then it is divulged.

I have just been through the process of killing a cistudo for the sake of science; but I cannot excuse myself for this murder, and see that such actions are inconsistent with the poetic perception, however they may serve science, and will affect the quality of my observations. I pray that I may walk more innocently and serenely through nature. No reasoning whatever reconciles me to this act. It affects my day injuriously. I have lost some self-respect. I have a murderer's experience to a degree.

In the planting of the seeds of most trees, the best gardeners do no more than follow Nature, though they may not know it.