A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

For the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our distraction.

In 1848, Thoreau went to jail for refusing, as a protest against the Mexican war, to pay his poll tax. When RW Emerson came to bail him out, Emerson said, 'Henry, what are you doing in there?' Thoreau quietly replied, 'Ralph, what are you doing out there?'

Rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventure. Let the noon find you by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.

Still we live meanly like ants, though the fable tells us we were long ago changed into men.

The state does not demand justice of its members, but thinks that it succeeds very well with the least degree of it, hardly more than rogues practice; and so do the neighborhood and the family. What is commonly called Friendship even is only a little more honor among rogues.

The violence of love is as much to be dreaded as that of hate.