“Reading is the royal road to intellectual eminence...Truly good books are more than mines to those who can understand them. They are the breathings of the great souls of past times. Genius is not embalmed in them, but lives in them perpetually.”

“Every man is a volume if you know how to read him.”

“Life has a higher end, than to be amused.”

“The world is governed by opinion.”

“Nothing which has entered into our experience is ever lost.”

“It is not the quantity but the quality of knowledge which determines the mind's dignity.”

“No power in society, no hardship in your condition can depress you, keep you down, in knowledge, power, virtue, influence, but by your own consent.”

“God is another name for human intelligence raised above all error and imperfection, and extended to all possible truth.”

“How easy to be amiable in the midst of happiness and success.”

“The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.”

“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.”