The gods are partial to no era, but steadily shines their light in the heavens, while the eye of the beholder is turned to stone.There was but the sun and the eye from the first. The ages have not added a new ray to the one, nor altered a fibre of the other.

Shall a man not have his spring as well as the plants?

I was never molested by any person but those who represented the State. I had no lock nor bolt but for the desk which held my papers, not even a nail to put over my latch or windows. I never fastened my door night or day, though I was to be absent several days; not even when the next fall I spent a fortnight in the woods of Maine. And yet my house was more respected than if it had been surrounded by a file of soldiers.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined...

In the production of the necessaries of life Nature is ready enough to assist man.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

We do not enjoy poetry unless we know it to be poetry.