All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be.

Some suggestions for you :

Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.

In short, all good things are wild and free.

It is hard to have a Southern overseer; it is worse to have a Northern one; but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself.

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.

Now-a-days, men wear a fool's cap, and call it a liberty cap.

It is not my business to be petitioning the Governor or the Legislature any more than it is theirs to petition me; and if they should not hear my petition, what should I do then? But in this case the State has provided no way: its very Constitution is the evil.

It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

We go eastward to realize history, and study the works of art and literature, retracing the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure. The Atlantic is a Lethan stream, in our passage over which we have had an opportunity to forget the Old World and its institutions.

It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.

I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to the other.

There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be.

I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least—and it is commonly more than that—sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulders...