Be assured that every man's success is in proportion to his average ability. The meadow flowers spring and bloom where the watersannually deposit their slime, not where they reach in some freshet only. A man is not his hope, nor his despair, nor yet his past deed. We know not yet what we have done, still less what we are doing. Wait till evening, and other parts of our day's work will shine than we had thought at noon, and we shall discover the real purport of our toil. As when the farmer has reached the end of the furrow and looks back, he can tell best where the pressed earth shines most.
Henry David ThoreauHow rarely I meet with a man who can be free, even in thought! We all live according to rule. Some men are bedridden; all world-ridden.
Henry David ThoreauDecay and disease are often beautiful, like the pearly tear of the shellfish and the hectic glow of consumption.
Henry David ThoreauTo speak or do anything that shall concern mankind, one must speak and act as if well, or from that grain of health which he has left.
Henry David Thoreau