Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him.

The merely political aspect of the land is never very cheering; men are degraded when considered as the members of a political organization.

Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who stood their ground.

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial.

Do not engage to find things as you think they are.

Some poems are for holidays only. They are polished and sweet, but it is the sweetness of sugar, and not such as toil gives to sour bread. The breath with which the poet utters his verse must be that by which he lives.

Every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition, has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food