A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.
God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.
The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.
Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.
I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.
Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment.