There never was a strong character that was not made strong by discipline of the will; there never was a strong people that did not rank subordination and discipline among the signal virtues. Subjection to moods is the mark of a deteriorating morality. There is no baser servitude than that of the man whose caprices are his masters, and a nation composed of such men could not long preserve its liberties.

Better be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo.

He who does a good deed is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed is by the action itself contracted.

To a physician, each man, each woman, is an amplification of one organ.

Who are the farmer's servants? ... Geology and Chemistry, the quarry of the air, the water of the brook, the lightning of the cloud, the castings of the worm, the plough of the frost.

The Yankee is one who, if he once gets his teeth set on a thing, all creation can't make him let go.

A garden has this advantage, that it makes it indifferent where you live. A well-laid garden makes the face of the country of no account; let that be low or high, grand or mean, you have made a beautiful abode worthy of man.