How meanly and grossly do we deal with nature!

Keep up the fires of thought, and all will go well.

The nonchalance and dolce-far-niente air of nature and society hint at infinite periods in the progress of mankind.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

You may tell by looking at any twig of the forest, ay, at your very wood-pile, whether its winter is past or not.

Each reaching and aspiration is an instinct with which all nature consists and cöoperates, and therefore it is not in vain. But alas! each relaxing and desperation is an instinct too. To be active, well, happy, implies courage. To be ready to fight in a duel or a battle implies desperation, or that you hold your life cheap.

There they lived on, those New England people, farmer lives, father and grandfather and great-grandfather, on and on without noise, keeping up tradition, and expecting, beside fair weather and abundant harvests, we did not learn what. They were contented to live, since it was so contrived for them, and where their lines had fallen.