The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.

Is there no God, then, but at best an absentee God, sitting idle, ever since the first Sabbath, at the outside of his Universe?

The leafy blossoming present time springs from the whole past, remembered and unrememberable.

I came hither [Craigenputtoch] solely with the design to simplify my way of life and to secure the independence through which I could be enabled to remain true to myself.

Nature, after all, is still the grand agent in making poets.

Is not light grander than fire?

It's a man's sincerity and depth of vision that makes him a poet.