All quotes

Nature seemed to me benign and good; I thought she loved me, outcast as I was; and I, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness.

Sara hugged her close and tried to laugh. There was a sort of comfort in the warmth of the plump, childish body.

As he sat gazing into the clear running of the water, Archibald Craven gradually felt his mind and body both grow quiet, as quiet as the valley itself.

Everything was strange and silent and she seemed to be hundreds of miles away from anyone, but somehow she did not feel lonely at all.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

There, too, after a fit of temper, I went to find comfort and to hide my hot face in the cool leaves and grass.

What a joy it is to feel the soft, springy earth under my feet once more, to follow grassy roads that lead to ferny brooks where I can bathe my fingers in a cataract of rippling notes, or to clamber over a stone wall into green fields that tumble and roll and climb in riotous gladness!

I remember an hour when I was discouraged and ready to falter. For days I had been pegging away at a task which refused to get itself accomplished.

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.

A lunch of bread and cheese after a good walk is more enjoyable than a Lord Mayor's feast.

Lastly, work secures the rich reward of rest, we must rest to be able to work well, and work to be able to enjoy rest.

For as with the close of the day, so with that of life; there may be clouds, and yet if the horizon is clear, the evening may be beautiful.

Work indeed, and hard work, if only it is in moderation, is in itself a rich source of happiness.

To be released from the absorbing affairs of life, to feel that one has earned a claim to leisure and repose, is surely in itself no evil.

We all admit, though we often forget, the marvellous power of perseverance, and yet all Nature, down to Bruce's spider, is continually impressing this lesson on us.

If we have done our best to do, and to be, we can rest in peace.

How much more interesting would every walk in the country be, if Man would but treat other animals with kindness, so that they might approach us without fear, and we might have the constant pleasure of watching their winning ways.

So far is a thorough love and enjoyment of travel from interfering with the love of home, that perhaps no one can thoroughly enjoy his home who does not sometimes wander away.

Without water no landscape is complete, while overhead the clouds add beauty to the heavens themselves.

Time spent in innocent and rational enjoyments, in healthy games, in social and family intercourse, is well and wisely spent.

Time indeed, is a sacred gift, and each day is a little life.

Any one who will sit down quietly on the grass and watch a little will be indeed surprised at the number and variety of living beings, every one with a special history of its own, every one offering endless problems of great interest.

Nor can any work, however persevering, or any success, however great, exhaust the prizes of life.

It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?