““What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable
“A cloudy day, or a little sunshine, have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most real blessings or misfortunes
“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice
“Marriage brings one into fatal connection with custom and tradition, and traditions and customs are like the wind and weather, alltogether incalculable
“Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by someone I do not know
“If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.
“Reason now gazes above the realm of the dark but warm feelings as the alpine peaks do above the clouds. They behold the sun more clearly and distinctly, but they are cold and unfruitful
“The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do
“Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass
“I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and autumn garner to the end of time.
“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin
“If I were to name the three most precious resources of life, I should say books, friends, and nature; and the greatest of these, at least the most constant and always at hand, is nature
“Progress, under whose feet the grass mourns and the forest turns into paper from which newspaper plants grow, has subordinated the purpose of life to the means of subsistence and turned us into the nuts and bolts for our tools