A measured, precise, unfussy speaker, this farmer.  I also liked the idea of his not melting the snow where he treads, as if he is himself made of this clean, cold, moderate element.

‘The farmer spoke to me, I can swear, clean, cold, moderate as the snow. He does not melt the snow where he treads.’  1 Dec 1856

Source: Henry David Thoreau, The Journal 1837-1861, Damion Searls (ed.), preface by John R. Stilgoe (New York: New York Review Books, 2009), p. 416

Photo credit: Abigail Keenan at unsplash