"I believe in the beauty of all things, and I believe in the beauty of all people."

"The older I grow the more I am confirmed in my optimism, my democracy—not of course denying or excusing what is bad—but it is good, not bad, that is common. Beneath all the froth, illiteracy, worse, t…"

"I make my way to the hospital, and stay there for hours, among the wounded, to give them what comfort I can, and to read to them, and to write letters for them."

"Filthy to others, to me they are not filthy, but illustrious; while critics consider those subjects from the point of view of persons standing on the lowest animal and infidelistic platform. Which, th…"

"To speak in literature with the perfect rectitude and insouciance of the movements of animals and the unimpeachable of the sentiment of trees in the woods and grass by the roadside is the flawless tri…"