One piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high as the moon.

The true poem is not that which the public read. There is always a poem not printed on paper,... in the poet's life. It is what hehas become through his work. Not how is the idea expressed in stone, or on canvas or paper, is the question, but how far it has obtained form and expression in the life of the artist. His true work will not stand in any prince's gallery.

Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.

Books that are books are all that you want, and there are but a half dozen in any thousand.

True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.

I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or, as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good.

We must take root; send out some little fibre at least, even every winter day.