Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.

I suppose an entire cabinet of shells would be an expression of the whole human mind; a Flora of the whole globe would be so likewise, or a history of beasts; or a painting of all the aspects of the clouds. Everything is significant.

In nature nothing can be given. All things are sold.

The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose. Foolish people ask you, when you have spoken what they do not wish to hear, 'How do you know it is truth, and not an error of your own?' We know truth when we see it, from opinion, as we know when we are awake that we are awake.

If it costs ten years, and ten to recover the general prosperity, the destruction of the South is worth so much.

Freedom has nothing to do with having the right to vote for your oppressor; freedom is not having any form of oppression.

We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing.