“That man’s best works should be such bungling imitations of Nature’s infinite perfection, matters not much; but that he should make himself an imitation, this is the fact which Nature moans over, and deprecates beseechingly. Be spontaneous, be truthful, be free, and thus be individuals! is the song she sings through warbling birds, and whispering pines, and roaring waves, and screeching winds.”

—  Lydia Maria Child

1840s, Letters from New York (1843) <br class="br">Source: Letters from New York http://www.bartleby.com/66/67/12267.html,vol. 1, letter 38

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Lydia Maria Child34
American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist 1802–1880

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