I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice ... While I am looking at him, I am thinking what he is thinking of me. He is a different sort of man, that's all.

How imperceptibly the first springing takes place!

What are the libraries of science but files of newspapers?

Thus men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up.

A person who chooses to die or to risk death demonstrates that there are values, principles, maxims, that are more valuable to him than is life itself. In short, he places his immortal self above his mortal self. Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.

The book has never been written which is to be accepted without any allowance.

A true account of the actual is the rarest poetry, for common sense always takes a hasty and superficial view.