Inexpressibly beautiful appears the recognition by man of the least natural fact, and the allying his life to it.

The customs of some savage nations might, perchance, be profitably imitated by us, for they at least go through the semblance of casting their slough annually; they have the idea of the thing, whether they have the reality or not.

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve.

I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men themselves have some wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members of society. Undoubtedly, all men are not equally fit subjects for civilization; and because the majority, like dogs and sheep, are tame by inherited disposition, this is no reason why the others should have their natures broken that they may be reduced to the same level.

It takes a man of genius to travel in his own country, in his native village; to make any progress between his door and his gate.

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

Today...the bluebirds, old and young, have revisited their box, as if they would fain repeat the summer without intervention of winter, if Nature would let them.