I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or a housefly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.
In my walks I would fain return to my senses. What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?
Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.
The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.