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 way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.

The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity when contrasted with a finer intelligence. They appear but as the fashions of past days,--mere courtliness, knee-buckles and small- clothes, out of date.

Morning brings back the heroic ages.

Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.

. . . I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days. . . .

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve.