Amos Bronson Alcott

Memory marks the horizon of our consciousness, imagination its zenith.

Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness.

Evil is retributive: every trespass slips fetters on the will, holds the soul in durance till contrition and repentance restore it to liberty.

Truth is the cry of all, but the game of the few.

Truth is sensitive and jealous of the least encroachment upon its sacredness.

To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.

Our ideals are our better selves.

The less of routine, the more of life.

Without a mythology faith is impersonal and heartless.

One must be a wise reader to quote wisely and well.

An author who sets his reader on sounding the depths of his own thoughts serves him best.

Divination seems heightened and raised to its highest power in woman.

Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written.

Many can argue, not many converse.

Good discourse sinks differences and seeks agreements.

Nature is the armory of genius. Cities serve it poorly; books and colleges at second-hand; the eye craves the spectacle of the horizon, of mountain, ocean, river and plain, the clouds and stars: actual contact with the elements, sympathy …

There is virtue in country houses, in gardens and orchards, fields, streams and groves, in rustic recreations and plain manners, that neither cities nor universities enjoy.

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps; Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvests reaps.

Conceive of slaughter and flesh-eating in Eden.

The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-trust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciples. A noble artist, he has visions of excellence and …

Enduring fame is ever posthumous. The orbs of virtue and genius seldom culminate during their terrestrial periods. Slow is the growth of great names, slow the procession of excellence into arts, institutions, life. Ages alone reflect their …

Prudence is the footprint of Wisdom.

Beelzebub marshals majorities.

Ever present, potent, vigilant, in the breast of man, there is that which never became a party in his guilt, never consented to a wrong deed, nor performed one, but holds itself above all sin, impeccable, immaculate, immutable, the deity …