"The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention."
"IT is reported of Margaret Fuller that she said she accepted the universe. "Gad, she'd better!" retorted Carlyle. Carlyle himself did not accept the universe in a very whole-hearted manner. Looking up at the midnight stars, he exclaimed: "A sad spectacle! If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly; if they be not inhabited, what a waste of space!""
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Source: John Burroughs (1924). “Accepting the universe”
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"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else."
"For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service."
"How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see."
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."