In Homer and Chaucer there is more of the innocence and serenity of youth than in the more modern and moral poets. The Iliad is not Sabbath but morning reading, and men cling to this old song, because they still have moments of unbaptized and uncommitted life, which give them an appetite for more.

Every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us.

If we see nature as pausing, immediately all mortifies and decays; but seen as progressing, she is beautiful.

If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.

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

He who receives an injury is to some extent an accomplice of the wrong-doer.

I was not born to be forced.