There were many terrible things in my life and most of them never happened.

To speak less of oneself than what one really is, is folly, not modesty; and to take that for current pay which is under a man's value, is pusillanimity and cowardice.

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould

In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection; otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books.

Experience has further taught me this, that we ruin ourselves by impatience.

In truth, the care and expense of our fathers aims only at furnishing our heads with knowledge; of judgement and virtue, little news.

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum.