.. since it was true that study, even when done properly, can only teach us what wisdom, right conduct and determination consist in, they wanted to put their children directly in touch with actual cases, teaching them not by hearsay but by actively assaying them, vigorously molding and forming them not merely by word and precept but chiefly by deeds and examples, so that wisdom should not be something which the soul knows but the soul's very essence and temperament, not something acquired but a natural property.

Examples teach us that in military affairs, and all others of a like nature, study is apt to enervate and relax the courage of man, rather than to give strength and energy to the mind.

If these Essays were worthy of being judged, it might fall out, in my opinion, that they would not find much favour, either with common and vulgar minds, or with uncommon and eminent ones: the former would not find enough in them, the latter would find too much; they might manage to live somewhere in the middle region.

The confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.

Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the progress, ignorance the end.

A man should think less of what he eats and more with whom he eats because no food is so satisfying as good company.

It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.