The great man, that is, the man most imbued with the spirit of the time, is the impressionable man.

The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship

The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and strut about so many walking monsters,—a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man.

Expediency of literature, reason of literature, lawfulness of writing down a thought, is questioned; much is to say on both sides,and, while the fight waxes hot, thou, dearest scholar, stick to thy foolish task, add a line every hour, and between whiles add a line.

Conversation is an evanescent relation,--no more.

Let us draw a lesson from nature, which always works by short ways. When the fruit is ripe, it falls.

Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work. The lesson one learns from yachting or planting is the manners of Nature; patience with the delays of wind and sun, delays of the seasons, bad weather, excess or lack of water.