Knowledge is but an instrument, which the profligate and the flagitious may use as well as the brave and the just.

Patient perseverance in well doing is infinitely harder than a sudden and impulsive self-sacrifice.

Genius may conceive but patient labor must consummate.

Praise begets emulation,--a goodly seed to sow among youthful students.

Without undervaluing any other human agency, it may be safely affirmed that the Common School, improved and energized, as it can easily be, may become the most effective and benignant of all the forces of civilization. Two reasons sustain this position. In the first place, there is a universality in its operation, which can be affirmed of no other institution whatever... And, in the second place, the materials upon which it operates are so pliant and ductile as to be susceptible of assuming a greater variety of forms than any other earthly work of the Creator.

A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.

The object of punishment is, prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.