Lose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story To-morrow, and the next more dilatory, For indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do, or think you can, begin it! Only engage, and then the mind grows heated; Begin it, and the work will be completed.

Thou shalt abstain, Renounce, refrain.

Some of our weaknesses are born in us, others are the result of education; it is a question which of the two gives us most trouble.

You acquire a language most readily in the country where it is spoken; you study mineralogy best among miners; and so with everything else.

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Everything which is properly business we must keep carefully separate from life. Business requires earnestness and method; life must have a freed handling.