The true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking. The walking is good to time the movement of the tongue by, and to keep the blood and the brain stirred up and active; the scenery and the woodsy smells are good to bear in upon a man an unconscious and unobtrusive charm and solace to eye and soul and sense; but the supreme pleasure comes from the talk.

Our opinions do not really blossom into fruition until we have expressed them to someone else.

[On Dutch flat poetry]: It is too smooth and blubbery; it reads like butter-milk gurgling from a jug.

What a lie it is to call this a free country, where none but the unworthy and undeserving may swear.

To be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin That makes calamity of so long life.

Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.