The rich man is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.

I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation. I do not wish to split hairs, to make fine distinctions, or set myself up as better than my neighbors. I seek rather, I may say, even an excuse for conforming to the laws of the land. I am but too ready to conform to them. Indeed, I have reason to suspect myself on this head; and each year, as the tax-gatherer comes round, I find myself disposed to review the acts and position of the general and State governments, and the spirit of the people, to discover a pretext for conformity.

Very few men can speak of Nature, for instance, with any truth. They overstep her modesty, somehow or other, and confer no favor.They do not speak a good word for her. Most cry better than they speak, and you can get more nature out of them by pinching than by addressing them. The surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods, handling them as indifferently as his axe, is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature. Better that the primrose by the river's brim be a yellow primrose, and nothing more, than that it be something less.

Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray.

We need the tonic of wildness.

The nonchalance and dolce-far-niente air of nature and society hint at infinite periods in the progress of mankind.

The silence sings. It is musical. I remember a night when it was audible. I heard the unspeakable.