"Never did I think so much, exist so vividly, and experience so much, never have I been so much myself---if I may use that expression---as in the journeys I have taken alone and on foot. There is something about walking that stimulates and enlivens my thoughts. When I stay in one place I can hardly think at all, my body has to be on the move to set my mind going. The sight of the countryside, the succession of pleasant views, the open air, a sound appetite, and the good health I gain by walking, the easy atmosphere of an inn, the absence of everything that makes me feel my dependence, of everything that recalls me to my situation---all these serve to free my spirit, to lend a greater boldness to my thinking, to throw me so to speak, into the vastness of things, so that I can combine them, select them, and make them mine as I will, without fear or restraint..."