Do not seek so anxiously to be developed, to subject yourself to many influences to be played on; it is all dissipation. Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights.

Most of the stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only. It buries itself alive.

It would be worth the while if in each town there were a committee appointed to see that the beauty of the town received no detriment. If we have the largest boulder in the county, then it should not belong to an individual, nor be made into door-steps.

Nature spontaneously keeps us well. Do not resist her!

I did not go to Boston, for with regard to that place I sympathize with one of my neighbors, an old man, who has not been there since the last war, when he was compelled to go. No, I have a real genius for staying at home.

What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?

Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and Spring.