The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness.

Mr. Gilbert had the earnest mania for self-improvement which has blighted the lives of so many young men.

From now until the end of time no one else will ever see life with my eyes, and I mean to make the best of my chance.

We call a child's mind 'small' simply by habit; perhaps it is larger than ours is, for it can take in almost anything without effort.

Truth is what every man sees lurking at the bottom of his own soul, like the oyster shell housewives put in the kitchen kettle to collect the lime from the water. By and by each man's iridescent oyster shell of Truth becomes coated with the lime of prejudice and hearsay.

Why do they put the Gideon Bibles only in the bedrooms, where it's usually too late...?

The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.