Nature abhors a vacuum, and if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled.

Every man is entitled to come to Cattle-Show, even a transcendentalist; and for my part I am more interested in the men than in the cattle.

Simplicity is the law of Nature for man as well as for flowers. When the tapestry (corolla) of the nuptial bed (calyx) is excessive, luxuriant, it is unproductive. The fertile flowers are single, not double.

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond.

There may be something petty in a refined taste; it easily degenerates into effeminacy. It does not consider the broadest use. It is not content with simple good and bad, and so is fastidious and curious or nice only.

In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts.