Foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of small minds!

Who can . . . guess how much industry and providence and affection we have caught from the pantomime of brutes?

You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.

The secret of culture is to learn, that a few great points steadily reappear, alike in the poverty of the obscurest farm, and in the miscellany of metropolitan life, and that these few are alone to be regarded,--the escape from all false ties; courage to be what we are; and love what is simple and beautiful; independence and cheerful relation, these are the essentials,--these, and the wish to serve,--to add somewhat to the well-being of men.

Fear is cruel and mean.

Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.

It is with a good book as it is with good company.