What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.

A masterpiece of art has in the mind a fixed place in the chain of being, as much as a plant or a crystal.

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.