Let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our brows, and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world.

If the fairest features of the landscape are to be named after men, let them be the noblest and worthiest men alone.

There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still.

If Nature is our mother, then God is our father.

There are some things which a man never speaks of, which are much finer kept silent about. To the highest communications we only lend a silent ear.

I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man: wine is not so noble a liquor; and think of dashing the hopes of a morningwith a cup of warm coffee, or of an evening with a dish of tea! Ah, how low I fall when I am tempted by them! Even music may be intoxicating. Such apparently slight causes destroyed Greece and Rome, and will destroy England and America.

There are two classes of men called poets. The one cultivates life, the other art,... one satisfies hunger, the other gratifies the palate.