Certainly I do not wish that instead of these masters I had read baby books, written down to children, and with such ignorant dullness that they blunt the sense and corrupt the tastes of the still plastic human being. But I do wish that I had read no books at all till later - that I had lived with toys, and played in the open air. Children should not cull the fruits of reflection and observation early, but expand in the sun, and let thoughts come to them. They should not through books antedate their actual experiences.

For precocity some great price is always demanded sooner or later in life.

What I mean by the Muse is that unimpeded clearness of the intuitive powers, which a perfectly truthful adherence to every admonition of the higher instincts would bring to a finely organized human being. It may appear as prophesy or as poesy...should these faculties have free play, I believe they will open up new, deeper and purer sources of joyous inspiration than have as yet refreshed the earth.

The character and history of each child may be a new and poetic experience to the parent, if he will let it.

All greatness affects different minds, each in its own particular kind, and the variations of testimony mark the truth of feeling.

Truth is the first of jewels.

The mind is not, I know, a highway, but a temple, and its doors should not be carelessly left open.