I derive no pleasure from talking with a young woman simply because she has regular features.

The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass; the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends.

How full of the creative genius is the air in which these [snowflakes] are generated! I should hardly admire them more if real stars fell and lodged on my coat. Nature is full of genius. Full of the divinity. So that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

When the first light dawned on the earth, and the birds awoke, and the brave river was heard rippling confidently seaward, and the nimble early rising wind rustled the oak leaves about our tent, all people, having reinforced their bodies and their souls with sleep, and cast aside doubt and fear, were invited to unattempted adventures.

We need the tonic of wildness.

Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.

Bribed with a little sunlight and a few prismatic tints, we bless our Maker, and stave off his wrath with hymns.