"To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much
from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary while I read
and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone,
let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly
worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might
think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to
give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the
sublime. Seen in the streets of cities how great they are! If
the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would
men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance
of the city of god which has been shown! But every night come
out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their
astonishing smile." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
