Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have been changed into a pine at last? No! no! it is the poet: he it is who makes the truest use of the pine-who does not fondle it with an axe, nor tickle it with a saw, nor stroke it with a plane. . . .
Henry David ThoreauNo face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well.
Henry David ThoreauThe true finish is the work of time, and the use to which a thing is put. The elements are still polishing the pyramids.
Henry David Thoreau