Edward Carpenter

When he was twenty-three or twenty-four my father began to learn German and read philosophy in his spare hours, which did not look as though he were destined to remain long on board ship! ”

I should like these few words to be read over the grave when my body is placed in the earth; for though it is possible I may be present and conscious of what is going on, I shall not be able to communicate. ”

Do not think too much of the dead husk of your friend, or mourn too much over it, but send your thoughts out towards the real soul or self which has escaped - to reach it. ”

With my somewhat vague aspiring mind, to be imprisoned in the rude details of a most material life was often irksome. ”

It is curious that, with my somewhat antinomian tendencies, I should have gone to Trinity Hall - which was, and is, before all a Law College - and should thus have been thrown into close touch with the legal element in life. ”

I might have simply settled down into an armchair literary life. I really don't know exactly why I didn't. ”

IN April 1882 my father died; and I was at once whirled out of my land of dreams into a very different sphere. ”

My ideas had been taking a socialistic shape for many years; but they were lacking in definite outline. ”

Whatever the practical value of the Walden experiment may be, there is no question that the book is one of the most vital and pithy ever written. ”

The general fact of surplus value, namely that the workmen does not get the full value of his labours, and that he is taken advantage of by the capitalist, is obvious. ”