Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you.

A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince.

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

The sacredness, if there is any, is all in yourself and not in the place.

Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.

There is in my nature, methinks, a singular yearning toward all wildness.

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent.

The country is an archipelago of lakes,--the lake-country of New England.

There must be some nerve and heroism in our love, as of a winter morning.

Every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us.

By one bait or another, Nature allures inhabitants into all her recesses.

The experience of every past moment but belies the faith of each present.

The man I meet with is not often so instructive as the silence he breaks.

One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.

I lingered most about the fireplace, as the most vital part of the house.

It is surprising how many great men and women a small house will contain.

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.

The question is not what you look at – but how you look & whether you see.

Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow.

Only what is thought, said, or done at a certain rare coincidence is good.

The schools begin with what they call the elements, and where do they end?

Our molting season, like that of the fouls, must be a crisis in our lives.

The squeaking of the pump sounds as necessary as the music of the spheres.

Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

Having each some shingles of thought well dried, we sat and whittled them.

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality.

It is not in vain that man speaks to man. This is the value of literature.

One must maintain a little bittle of summer, even in the middle of winter.

Listen to music religiously, as if it were the last strain you might hear.

Associate reverently, and as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.

It is not worth while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.

When was it that men agreed to respect the appearance and not the reality?

The universe expects every man to do his duty in his parallel of latitude.

All the past is here, present to be tried; let it approve itself if it can.

On tops of mountains, as everywhere to hopeful souls, it is always morning.

No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof.

Be resolutely and faithfully what you are; be humbly what you aspire to be.

When a man truly commits, the universe will conspire to assure his success.

Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures.

The way by which you may get money almost without exception leads downward.

I may add that I am enjoying existence as much as ever, and regret nothing.

Take Time by the forelock. It is also the safest part to take a serpent by.

The first pleasant days of spring come out like a squirrel and go in again.

I live in the present. I only remember the past, and anticipate the future.

To the sick, indeed, nature is sick, but to the well, a fountain of health.

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

Nothing can be more useful to a man than a determination not to be hurried.

Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.

What is commonly called friendship is only a little more honor among rogues.

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