"The complaint about the weather is to me specially strange, and I cannot endure it well in others. I like to look upon Nature as a mighty power, imparting the purest joy, when we live tranquilly with her in all her developments, and consider the sum of all these as one great whole, in which we are not to think whether any individual portion is pleasing if only the great general ends are accomplished. For me the peculiar charm of a country life in the society of Nature consists in this, that we see the different seasons of the year roll past our eyes. It is just the same with life; and it has therefore always appeared to me an idle question, to say nothing more, what period of life has the greatest attractions — youth or manhood, or any other portion of time. It is ever only self-deception when we imagine that we would really wish to continue in any one particular period. The charm of youth just consists in the joyous and unrestrained anticipations of life, and all these would vanish whenever it was evident to any one that he was ever striving and never advancing a step, very much like people condemned to the treadmill. With age it is just the same; when clearly and powerfully understood, it is nothing else than a looking beyond this life, a stage in our course, a feeling that we must leave all things without being able to dispense with them, loving meanwhile, and looking with cheerfulness on all we are leaving, as a scene in which we are interested, and on which our thoughts still love to linger."