Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints.

I turned my face more exclusively than ever to the woods, where I was better known.

With wisdom we shall learn liberality.

The world is a strange place for a playhouse to stand within it.

One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors. To dwell long upon them is to add to the offense.

If one listens to the faintest but constant suggestions of his genius, which are certainly true, he sees not to what extremes, or even insanity, it may lead him; and yet that way, as he grows more resolute and faithful, his road lies.

The sea-shore is a sort of neutral ground, a most advantageous point from which to contemplate this world. It is even a trivial place. The waves forever rolling to the land are too far-travelled and untamable to be familiar. Creeping along the endless beach amid the sun-squall and the foam, it occurs to us that we, too, are the product of sea-slime.