If the whole world I once could see On free soil stand, with the people free Then to the moment might I say, Linger awhile. . .so fair thou art.

Children can scarcely be fashioned to meet with our likes and our purpose. Just as God did us give them, so must we hold them and love them, nurture and teach them to fullness and leave them to be what they are.

A wife is a gift bestowed upon a man to reconcile him to the loss of paradise.

Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.

Hatred is a heavy burden. It sinks the heart deep in the breast, and lies like a tombstone on all joys.

Every man must form himself as a particular being, seeking, however, to attain that general idea of which all mankind are constituents.

Nature! We live in her midst and know her not. She is incessantly speaking to us, but betrays not her secret. We constantly act upon her, and yet have no power over her. Variant: NATURE! We are surrounded and embraced by her: powerless to separate ourselves from her, and powerless to penetrate beyond her.