„Die schlimmste und verbreitetste Krankheit, die uns alle, unsere Literatur, unsere Erziehung, unser Verhalten zueinander durchseucht, ist die ungesunde Sorge um den Schein.“

Tagebuch, 1876
"What worse - what more general malady pervades each and all of us, our literature, education, attitude toward each other, (even toward ourselves,) than a morbid trouble about seems, (generally temporarily seems too,) and no trouble at all, or hardly any, about the sane, slow-growing, perennial, real parts of character, books, friendship, marriage - humanity's invisible foundations and hold-together?" - The Lesson of a Tree. September 1. Prose Works 1892. Volume I Specimen Days. Edited by Floyd Stovall. © New York University 1963