Not till we are completely lost, or turned round, do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature.

The best poets, after all, exhibit only a tame and civil side of nature. They have not seen the west side of any mountain.

Commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene, alert, adventurous, and unwearied. It is very natural in its methods withal, far more so than many fantastic enterprises and sentimental experiments, and hence its singular success.

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

There is all the poetry in the world in a name. It is a poem which the mass of men hear and read. What is poetry in the common sense, but a hearing of such jingling names? I want nothing better than a good word. The name of a thing may easily be more than the thing itself to me.

It is the man determines what is said, not the words.

There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.