The moose is singularly grotesque and awkward to look at. Why should it stand so high at the shoulders? Why have so long a head? Why have no tail to speak of?

Routine is a ground to stand on, a wall to retreat to; we cannot draw on our boots without bracing ourselves against it.

There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.

Let a man take time enough for the most trivial deed, though it be but the paring of his nails. The buds swell imperceptibly, without hurry or confusion,--as if the short spring days were an eternity.

The next time the novelist rings the bell I will not stir though the meeting-house burn down.

Wealth can't buy heath, but heath can buy wealth.

We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.