Imagine how terrifying it would be if we had to decide the beginnings of things for ourselves: as to what race we should belong, what sex, and all that, instead of placidly coming out of unconsciousness to find it all arranged!

the various earth odors all have a separate tale to tell, and the leaf mold of the woods bears a wholly different fragrance from that of the soil under pasture turf, or the breath that the garden gives off in great sighs of relief when it is relaxed and refreshed by a summer shower.

it is really astonishing how few colors are inharmonious when they are profusely massed and have green for a background.

Why is it that so many people think that charity consists in giving away merely what they cannot use instead of the article the recipient needs?

It doesn't so much matter what one loves. To love is the transfiguring thing.

I have always noticed that when people consider others eccentric, it is because they are reveling in some form of enjoyment that their critics can neither compass nor share.

in the city at best one lives the life of others, the life of the shop, the street, the crowd, while in the country one must live one's own life.