Left to herself, nature is always more or less civilized, and delights in a certain refinement; but where the axe has encroached upon the edge of the forest, the dead and unsightly limbs of the pine, which she had concealed with green banks of verdure, are exposed to sight.

In 1848, Thoreau went to jail for refusing, as a protest against the Mexican war, to pay his poll tax. When RW Emerson came to bail him out, Emerson said, 'Henry, what are you doing in there?' Thoreau quietly replied, 'Ralph, what are you doing out there?'

In sane moments we regard only the facts, the case that is.

The best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

Sobriety, severity, and self-respect are the foundations of all true sociality.

Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!