Do not despair of your life. You have force enough to overcome your obstacles.
Most are engaged in business the greater part of their lives, because the soul abhors a vacuum and they have not discovered any continuous employment for man’s nobler faculties.
If the laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats himself.
The mass never comes up to the standard of its best member, but on the contrary degrades itself to a level with the lowest.
I came to love my rows, my beans, though so many more than I wanted. They attached me to the earth, and so I got strength like Antaeus.
A farmer, a hunter, a soldier, a reporter, even a philosopher, may be daunted; but nothing can deter a poet, for he is actuated by pure love. Who can predict his comings and goings? His business calls him out at all hours, even when doctors sleep.
All that man has to say or do that can possibly concern mankind is in some shape or other to tell the story of his love-to sing, and, if he is fortunate and keeps alive, he will be forever in love.
Love does not analyze its object.
Enemies publish themselves. They declare war. The friend never declares his love.
It is not worth while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.
The man who does not betake himself at once and desperately to sawing is called a loafer, though he may be knocking at the doors of heaven all the while.
Nature is an admirable schoolmistress.
The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams.
All perception of truth is the detection of an analogy.
When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip.
The future is too soon the past. So make perseverance your excellence and go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
In my walks, I would fain return to my senses. What business have I in the woods if I am thinking of something out of the woods?
We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.
We love to hear some men speak, though we hear not what they say; the very air they breathe is rich and perfumed, and the sound of their voices falls on the ear like the rustling of leaves or the crackling of the fire. They stand many deep.
The ears were made, not for such trivial uses as men are wont to suppose, but to hear celestial sounds.