In the wildest nature, there is not only the material of the most cultivated life, and a sort of anticipation of the last result,but a greater refinement already than is ever attained by man.... Nature is prepared to welcome into her scenery the finest work of human art, for she is herself an art so cunning that the artist never appears in his work.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing.

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

We loiter in winter while it is already spring.

Life consists with Wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him. One who pressed forward incessantly and never rested from his labors, who grew fast and made infinite demands on life, would always find himself in a new country or wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material of life. He would be climbing over the prostrate stems of primitive forest trees.