The love of dirt is among the earliest of passions, as it is the latest. Mud-pies gratify one of our first and best instincts. So long as we are dirty, we are pure. Fondness for theground comes back to a man after he has run the round of pleasure and business, eaten dirt, and sown wild oats, drifted about the world, and taken the wind of all its moods. The love of digging in the ground (or of looking on while he pays another to dig is as sure to come back to him, as he is sure, at last, to go under the ground, and stay there.
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To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch their renewal of life - this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.
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Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.
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If there was any petting to be done...he chose to do it. Often he would sit looking at me, and then, moved by a delicate affection, come and pull at my coat and sleeve until he could touch my face with his nose, and then go away contented.
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The thing generally raised on city land is taxes.
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Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do but nearly every one who tries his power touches the walls of his being.
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Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do; but nearly every one who tries his power touches the walls of his being.
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I am convinced that the majority of people would be generous from selfish motives, if they had the opportunity.
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Happy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration.
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No one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
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A great artist can paint a great picture on a small canvas.
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Regrets are idle yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently.
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It is one of those beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
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The wise man does not permit himself to set up even in his own mind any comparisons of his friends. His friendship is capable of going to extremes with many people, evoked as it is by many qualities.
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The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.
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Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently.
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