I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which the old Romans did when they came to thin, or letin the light to, a consecrated grove (lucum conlucare), that is, would believe that it is sacred to some god. The Roman made an expiatory offering, and prayed, Whatever god or goddess thou art to whom this grove is sacred, be propitious to me, my family, and children, etc.

Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.

I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.

Pity the man who has a character to support - it is worse than a large family - he is silent poor indeed.

The natural historian is not a fisherman who prays for cloudy days and good luck merely; but as fishing has been styled "a contemplative man's recreation," introducing him profitably to woods and water, so the fruit of the naturalist's observations is not in new genera or species, but in new contemplations still, and science is only a more contemplative man's recreation.

If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man.

We have not so good a right to hate any as our Friend.