Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other.

How many a poor immortal soul I have met well-nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it [an oversized home].

I never read a novel, they have so little real life and thought in them.

It is far more independent to travel on foot. You have to sacrifice so much to the horse. You cannot choose the most agreeable places in which to spend the noon., commanding the finest views, because commonly there is no water there, or you cannot get there with your horse.

There is all the poetry in the world in a name. It is a poem which the mass of men hear and read. What is poetry in the common sense, but a hearing of such jingling names? I want nothing better than a good word. The name of a thing may easily be more than the thing itself to me.

From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality.

Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life. This life in the present.