Carlyle said that how to observe was to look, but I say that it is rather to see, and the more you look the less you will observe.

The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science, and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over Homer.

After all, I believe it is the style of thought entirely, and the style of expression, which makes the difference in books.

So long as a man is faithful to himself, everything is in his favor, government, society, the very sun, moon, and stars.

True, there are architects so called in this country, and I have heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making architectural ornaments have a core of truth, a necessity, and hence a beauty, as if it were a revelation to him. All very well perhaps from his point of view, but only a little better than the common dilettantism.

Poetry is the mysticism of mankind.

It is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay his hands on himself in the dark, and that he live in all respects so compactly and preparedly, that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety.