The reason of idleness and of crime is the deferring of our hopes.

The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.

Conversation is our account of ourselves...Conversation is the vent of character as well as thoughts...It is the laboratory of the student.

Live in the fields, and God will give you lectures on natural philosophy every day.

For each thorn, there's a rosebud... For each twilight - a dawn... For each trial - the strength to carry on, For each storm cloud - a rainbow... For each shadow - the sun... For each parting - sweet memories when sorrow is done.

We cannot let our angels go; we do not see that they only go out that archangels may come in.

Sooner or later that which is now life shall be poetry, and every fair and manly trait shall add a richer strain to the song.