Modest egotism is the salt of conversation; you do not want too much of it, but if it is altogether omitted, everything tastes flat.

For those who love... time is eternity.

No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.

For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside the animal kingdom that is comparable to a river.

Every country-or at least every country that is fit for habitation-has its own rivers; and every river has its own quality; and it is the part of wisdom to know and love as many as you can, seeing each in the fairest possible light, and receiving from each the best that it has to give.

A river is the most human and companionable of all inanimate things. It has a life, a character, a voice of its own; and it is as full of good fellowship as a sugar maple is of sap. It can talk in various tones, loud or low, and of many subjects grave and gay.... For real company and friendship there is nothing, outside of the animal kingdom, that is comparable to a river.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.