On the 31st of August, 1846, I left Concord in Massachusetts for Bangor and the backwoods of Maine,... I proposed to make excursions to Mount Ktaadn, the second highest mountain in New England, about thirty miles distant, and to some of the lakes of the Penobscot, either alone or with such company as I might pick up there.

The only sin in the world is ignorance.

The most alive is the wildest.

A healthy man, indeed, is the complement of the seasons, and in winter, summer is in his heart.

But the place which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very centre of civilization to you: "Home is home, be it never so homely."

We perceive and are affected by changes too subtle to be described.

But they who are unconcerned about the consequences of their actions are not therefore unconcerned about their actions.