Art is not tame, and Nature is not wild, in the ordinary sense. A perfect work of man's art would also be wild or natural in a good sense.

When a man's conscience and the laws clash, it is his conscience that he must follow.

We falsely attribute to men a determined character - putting together all their yesterdays - and averaging them - we presume we know them. Pity the man who has character to support - it is worse than a large family - he is the silent poor indeed.

It is always singular, but encouraging, to meet with common sense in very old books, as the Heetopades of Veeshnoo Sarma; a playful wisdom which has eyes behind as well as before, and oversees itself. It asserts their health and independence of the experience of later times. This pledge of sanity cannot be spared in a book, that it sometimes pleasantly reflect upon itself.

The more you have thought and written on a given theme, the more you can still write. Thought breeds thought. It grows under your hands.

Some simple dishes recommend themselves to our imaginations as well as palates.

The country is an archipelago of lakes,--the lake-country of New England.