The wisest man preaches no doctrines; he has no scheme; he sees no rafter, not even a cobweb, against the heavens. It is clear sky.

The news we hear, for the most part, is not news to our genius. It is the stalest repetition.

In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.

In the wildest nature, there is not only the material of the most cultivated life, and a sort of anticipation of the last result,but a greater refinement already than is ever attained by man.... Nature is prepared to welcome into her scenery the finest work of human art, for she is herself an art so cunning that the artist never appears in his work.

There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.

He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.