Were I to live my life over again, I should live it just as I have done. I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.

I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.

I am much afraid that we shall have very greatly hastened the decline and ruin of the New World by our contagion, and that we willhave sold it our opinions and our arts very dear.

A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without reserve. In solitude alone can he know true freedom.

We cannot do without it, and yet we disgrace and vilify the same. It may be compared to a cage, the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair to get out.

Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe in, provided they have some originality and beauty. They speak truly and usefully enough if they speak ingeniously.

Wisdom is a solid and entire building, of which every piece keeps its place and bears its mark.