I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself.

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.

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.

We discover a new world every time we see the earth again after it has been covered for a season with snow.

If you would get money as a writer or lecturer, you must be popular, which is to go down perpendicularly.... You are paid for being something less than a man. The state does not commonly reward a genius any more wisely. Even the poet laureate would rather not have to celebrate the accidents of royalty. He must be bribed with a pipe of wine; and perhaps another poet is called away from his muse to gauge that very pipe.

Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them?

I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side.