In [my] life ... I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated piece of mechanism - man.

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.

The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it.

Neither the individual nor the race is improved by almsgiving. The best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise.

My hopes were high, and I looked every day for some change to take place. What it was to be I knew not, but that it would come I felt certain if I kept on. One day the chance came.

I don't believe in God. My God is patriotism. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.