As for fowling, during the last years that I carried a gun my excuse was that I was studying ornithology, and sought only new or rare birds. But I confess that I am now inclined to think that there is a finer way of studying ornithology than this. It requires so much closer attention to the habits of the birds, that, if for that reason only, I have been willing to omit the gun.

When I consider how, after sunset, the stars come out gradually in troops from behind the hills and woods, I confess that I could not have contrived a more curious and inspiring sight.

I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government

Since all things are good, men fail at last to distinguish which is the bane and which the antidote.

The poet is blithe and cheery ever, and as well as nature.

What stuff is the man made of who is not coexistent in our thought with the purest and sublimest truth?

Tradition is a more interrupted and feebler memory.