The less government we have, the better, — the fewer laws, and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal Government, is, the infl… - Ralph Waldo Emerson

But now we are a mob. Man does not stand in awe of man, nor is his genius admonished to stay at home, to put itself in communication with the internal ocean, but it goes abroad to beg a cup of water of the urns of other men. We must go alone. I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.

Why should we make account of time, or of magnitude, or of figure? The soul knows how to play with them as a young child plays with graybeards and in churches.

The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops - no, but the kind of man the country turns out.