Genius is not a single power, but a combination of great powers. It reasons, but it is not reasoning; it judges, but it is not judgment; imagines, but it is not imagination; it feels deeply and fiercely, but it is not passion. It is neither, because it is all.

An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.

A true teacher should penetrate to whatever is vital in his pupil, and develop that by the light and heat of his own intelligence.

Books -lighthouses erected in the great sea of time -books, the precious depositories of the thoughts and creations of genius -books, by whose sorcery times past become time present, and the whole pageantry of the world's history moves in solemn procession before our eyes, -these were to visit the firesides of the humble and lavish the treasures of the intellect upon the poor.

Knowledge, like religion, must be experienced in order to be known.

A man of letters is often a man with two natures,--one a book nature, the other a human nature. These often clash sadly.

The greatness of action includes immoral as well as moral greatness--Cortes and Napoleon, as well as Luther and Washington.