A blessing

I live in an age of varied powers and knowledge,
Of steam, science, democracy, journalism, art;
But when my love rises like a sea,
I have to go back to an obscure tribe and a slain man
To formulate a blessing.

–  The Notebook.

Marriage

Of all human institutions marriage is the only one which most depends upon slow development, upon patience, upon long reaches of times, upon magnanimous compromise, upon kindly habit.

– Early Notebooks.

“A fiery circle”

If the arms of a man could be a fiery circle
embracing the round world,
I think I should be that man.

- The Notebook (unpublished, c.1895)