We say justly that the weak person is flat, for, like all flat substances, he does not stand in the direction of his strength, that is, on his edge, but affords a convenient surface to put upon. He slides all the way through life.... But the brave man is a perfect sphere, which cannot fall on its flat side and is equally strong every way.

I realized a school doesn't need a School Committee or Trustees or Governors or lumber or approved textbooks. All a school needs is a mind that sends and minds that receive. I shall teach my own students how to teach themselves. My own school. No buildings. Break out of the classroom prison. All I need is SKY. The Universe can be my classroom - the great vast world of the Concord countryside.

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.

When any real progress is made, we unlearned and learn anew what we thought we knew before.

Take Time by the forelock. It is also the safest part to take a serpent by.

I begin to see an object when I cease to understand it.