“Nature never makes excellent things for mean or no uses”

“Reason now gazes above the realm of the dark but warm feelings as the alpine peaks do above the clouds. They behold the sun more clearly and distinctly, but they are cold and unfruitful”

“We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of nature, it is always ourselves alone we are observing”

“The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.”

“The day is done, and the darkness, falls from the wings of night, as a feather is wafted downward, from an eagle in his flight”

“The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide”