I love man-kind, but I hate the institutions of the dead unkind. Men execute nothing so faithfully as the wills of the dead, to the last codicil and letter. They rule this world, and the living are but their executors. Such foundation too have our lectures and our sermons, commonly.

I would fain keep sober always; and there are infinite degrees of drunkenness.

There is ripe fruit over your head.

We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking.

The first pleasant days of spring come out like a squirrel and go in again.

The best books are not read even by those who are called good readers. What does our Concord culture amount to? There is in this town, with a very few exceptions, no taste for the best or for very good books even in English literature, whose words all can read and spell.

If you indulge in long periods, you must be sure to have a snapper at the end.