The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams.

The life without men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?

I have great faith in a seed.

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

If all were as it seems, and men made the elements their servants for noble ends!

A person who chooses to die or to risk death demonstrates that there are values, principles, maxims, that are more valuable to him than is life itself. In short, he places his immortal self above his mortal self. Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.

We are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect.