Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.

There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.

When I did big things, some large corporations like the Pennsylvania Railroad Company were behind me and responsible party.

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

There is no use whatsoever in trying to help people who do not help themselves.

There is scarcely an instance of a man who has made a fortune by speculation and kept it

It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to girls and boys who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it as the founding of a public library.