There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be.

Be wary of technology; it is often merely an improved means to an unimproved end.

What a fool he must be who thinks that his El Dorado is anywhere but where he lives.

In what concerns you much, do not think that you have companions: know that you are alone in the world.

No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself. The most accurate analysis by the rarest wisdom is yet insufficient, and the poet will instantly prove it false by setting aside its requisitions. It is indeed all that we do not know.

I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite.

There is an orientalism in the most restless pioneer, and the farthest west is but the farthest east.