Now, to be properly enjoyed, a walking tour should be gone upon alone.... Freedom is of the essence, because you should be able to stop and go on and follow this way or that as the freak takes you.... There should be no cackle of voices at your elbow to jar on the meditative silence of the morning.

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

There comes an end to all things; the most capacious measure is filled at last; and this brief condescension to evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul.

It is not enough to be ready to go where duty calls. A man should stand around where he can hear the call!

I never drew a picture of anything that was before me but always from fancy, a sure sign of the absence of artistic eyesight; and I illustrated my lack of real feeling for art by a very early speech: 'Mama,' said I, 'I have drawed a man. Shall I draw his soul now?

A man finds he has been wrong at every stage of his career, only to deduce the astonishing conclusion that he is at last entirely right.

Of what shall a man be proud, if he is not proud of his friends?