The order of things should be reversed; the seventh day should be the day of toil...and the other six his Sabbath of the affections and the soul, in which to range this widerspread garden, and drink in the soft influences and sublime revelations of Nature.

The news we hear, for the most part, is not news to our genius. It is the stalest repetition.

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial.

A thoroughbred business man cannot enter heartily upon the business of life without first looking into his accounts.

A temple, you know, was anciently "an open place without a roof," whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven; but a modern meeting-house shuts out the heavens, while it crowds the world into still closer quarters.

We cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun; he is no more humane, while his education has been sadly neglected.

Routine is a ground to stand on, a wall to retreat to; we cannot draw on our boots without bracing ourselves against it.