Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance: they make the latitudes and longitudes.

More from Letter to Mrs. E. Castleton (22 May 1843)

• Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.
• A man receives only what he is ready to receive... The phenomenon or fact that cannot in any wise be linked with the rest of what he has observed, he does not observe.
• Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
• Any fool can make a rule And every fool will mind it.
• Any fool can make a rule And every fool will mind it. Journals, entry for Feb. 3, 1860
• Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.