We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.
Source: Letter, 2 Mar 1842, to Mrs. Lucy Brown.
-- Henry David Thoreau, (Jul 12 1817-1862), US essayist, poet, naturalist; He is best known for his description of life at Walden Pond, Walden, 1854 and his essay Civil Disobedience, 1849.