There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.

Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life. This life in the present.

I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke strops our vice.

Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do not want society.

It is not that we love to be alone, but that we love to soar, and when we do soar, the company grows thinner and thinner until there is none at all. …We are not the less to aim at the summits though the multitude does not ascend them.

I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.