In the woods, too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods we return to reason and faith.

A friend may be nature's most magnificent creation.

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

What matters most is not what is behind us or before us, but what is within us.

All writing comes by the grace of God.

Fear is an instructor of great sagacity, and the herald of all revolutions.

My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady.