If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begi… - Henry David Thoreau

For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever.

A hard, insensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft.

How well-behaved are cows! When they approach me reclining in the shade, from curiosity, or to receive a wisp of grass, or to share the shade, or to lick the dog held up, like a calf, —though just now they ran at him to toss him, —they do not obtrude. Their company is acceptable, for they can endure the longest pause; they have not got to be entertained.