We are a nation of politicians, concerned about the outmost defenses only of freedom. It is our children’s children who may perchance be really free.
There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.
The man who takes the liberty to live is superior to all the laws, by virtue of his relation to the lawmaker.
What shall we think of a government to which all the truly brave and just men in the land are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses? A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies a million Christs every day!
The United States have a coffle of four millions of slaves. They are determined to keep them in this condition; and Massachusettsis one of the confederated overseers to prevent their escape.
When I think of the gold-diggers and the Mormons, the slaves and the slave-holders and the flibustiers, I naturally dream of a glorious private life. No, I am not patriotic.
To the innocent there are neither cherubim nor angels.
There is a certain perfection in accident which we never consciously attain.
The true finish is the work of time, and the use to which a thing is put. The elements are still polishing the pyramids.
To say that God has given a man many and great talents frequently means that he has brought his heavens down within reach of his hands.
So far as my experience goes, travelers generally exaggerate the difficulties of the way. Like most evil, the difficulty is imaginary; for what’s the hurry?
He may travel who can subsist on the wild fruits and game of the most cultivated country.
Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage.
He who rides and keeps the beaten track studies the fences chiefly.
At the extreme north, the voyagers are obliged to dance and act plays for employment.
I suspect that, if you should go to the end of the world, you would find somebody there going farther, as if just starting for home at sundown, and having a last word before he drove off.
Far travel, very far travel, or travail, comes near to the worth of staying at home.
I am very little of a traveler.
What is the use of going right over the old track again? There is an adder in the path which your own feet have worn. You must make tracks into the Unknown.
I am accustomed to think very long of going anywhere, – am slow to move. I hope to hear a response of the oracle first.