“The greatest fool may ask more questions than the wisest man can answer.”

A wry observation on the limits of wisdom and the difficulty of answering every question · Prose work, commonly attributed to James Hogg

• Truth
• Wisdom

“A certain keenness of disposition, prompting to the most active exertions, is the first ingredient in the happiness of man. Happiness is the mind and the object in full possession of one another. A man's life will be always pleasant, if he enter with all his heart and soul into the concerns of it.”

Defining happiness through energetic engagement rather than passive contentment · Personal reflection (as recorded in biographical accounts)

• Action
• Happiness
• Life

“My manner of composing poetry is very different, and, I believe, much more singular. Let the piece be of what length it will, I compose and correct it wholly in my mind, or on a slate, ere ever I put pen to paper; and then I write it down as fast as the A, B, C. When once it is written, it remains in that state; it being with the utmost difficulty that I can be brought to alter one syllable.”

Describing a method of composition shaped by the limited spare time of a working shepherd · Autobiographical Memoir

• Craft
• Poetry
• Writing