“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

A written word is the choicest of relics.

Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

This world is but canvas to our imaginations.

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!

Simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real.

It takes two to speak the truth – one to speak and another to hear.

Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.

Wildness is the preservation of the World.

The language of Friendship is not words, but meanings.

I can alter my life by altering my attitude. He who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.