I know very well what Goethe meant when he said that he never had a chagrin but he made a poem out of it. I have altogether too much patience of this kind.

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

No domain of nature is quite closed to man at all times.

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth

Nature has many scenes to exhibit, and constantly draws a curtain over this part or that. She is constantly repainting the landscape and all surfaces, dressing up some scene for our entertainment. Lately we had a leafy wilderness; now bare twigs begin to prevail, and soon she will surprise us with a mantle of snow. Some green she thinks so good for our eyes that, like blue, she never banishes it entirely from our eyes, but has created evergreens.

Some creatures are made to see in the dark.