What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labor.

There is a world of science necessary in choosing books. I have known some people in great sorrow fly to a novel, or the last light book in fashion. One might as well take a rose-draught for the plague! Light reading does not do when the heart is really heavy. I am told that Goethe, when he lost his son, took to study a science that was new to him. Ah! Goethe was a physician who knew what he was about.

O be very sure That no man will learn anything at all, Unless he first will learn humility.

The veil which covers the face of futurity is woven by the hand of mercy.

Philosophers have done wisely when they have told us to cultivate our reason rather than our feelings, for reason reconciles us to the daily things of existence; our feelings teach us to yearn after the far, the difficult, the unseen.

Could we know by what strange circumstances a man's genius became prepared for practical success, we should discover that the most serviceable items in his education were never entered in the bills which his father paid for.

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday.