The cultivation of the mind is a kind of food supplied for the soul of man.

Studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are companions by night, and in travel, and in the country.

To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.

Man's life is ruled by fortune, not by wisdom.

Friendship was given by nature to be an assistant to virtue, not a companion in vice.

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.

Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow.