I am not afraid of praise, for I have practiced it on myself.

Men go back to the mountains, as they go back to sailing ships at sea, because in the mountains and on the sea they must face up.

I know that some will have hard thoughts of me, when they hear their Christ named beside my Buddha, yet I am sure that I am willing they should love their Christ more than my Buddha, for the love is the main thing, and I like him too.

When it was proposed to me to go abroad, rub oft some rust, and better my condition in a worldly sense, I fear lest my life will lose some of its homeliness. If these fields and streams and woods, the phenomena of nature here, and the simple occupations of the inhabitants should cease to interest and inspire me, no culture or wealth would atone for the loss.

Law never made men a whit more just.

Fire is the most tolerable third party

Our taste is too delicate and particular. It says nay to the poet's work, but never yea to his hope.