Only those who [do] nothing [make] no mistakes.

You can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past. They lived in the present. It is their present, not our present, and they don't know how it's going to come out. They weren't just like we are because they lived in that very different time. You can't understand them if you don't understand how they perceived reality.

It was a day and age that saw no reason why one could not learn whatever was required - learn vitally anything - by the close study of books.

The first of all qualities of a general is courage.

If everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.

Nothing ever invented can you a bigger life than a book.

The more Adams thought about the future of his country, the more convinced he became that it rested on education. Before any great things are accomplished, he wrote to a correspondent, a memorable change must be made in the system of education and knowledge must become so general as to raise the lower ranks of society nearer to the higher. The education of a nation instead of being confined to a few schools and universities for the instruction of the few, must become the national care and expense for the formation of the many.