When I visit again some haunt of my youth, I am glad to find that nature wears so well. The landscape is indeed something real, and solid, and sincere, and I have not put my foot through it yet.

I have heard of a man lost in the woods and dying of famine and exhaustion at the foot of a tree, whose loneliness was relieved by the grotesque visions with which, owing to bodily weakness, his diseased imagination surrounded him, and which he believed to be real. So also, owing to bodily and mental health and strength, we may be continually cheered by a like but more normal and natural society, and come to know that we are never alone.

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

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

As for the tenets of the Brahmans, we are not so much concerned to know what doctrines they held, as that they were held by any. We can tolerate all philosophies.... It is the attitude of these men, more than any communication which they make, that attracts us.

The gifts of Heaven are never quite gratuitous.

What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?