In what concerns you much, do not think that you have companions: know that you are alone in the world.

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

All that are printed and bound are not books; they do not necessarily belong to letters, but are oftener to be ranked with the other luxuries and appendages of civilized life. Base wares are palmed off under a thousand disguises.

I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment.

Staying in the house breeds a sort of insanity always. Every house is, in this sense, a hospital.

It is darker in the woods, even in common nights, than most suppose.

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.