This was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen, no doubt; but if the birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, I should not have been found wanting. A man must find his occasions in himself, it is true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his indolence.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.

What is chastity? How shall a man know if he is chaste? He shall not know it. We have heard of this virtue, but we know not what it is.

Our vices always lie in the direction of our virtues, and in their best estate are but plausible imitations of the latter.

The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.

Poetry cannot breathe in the scholar's atmosphere.

If you would feel the full force of a tempest, take up your residence on the top of Mount Washington, or at the Highland Light, inTruro.