To distract myself from tiresome thoughts, I have only to resort to books; they easily draw my mind to themselves and away from other things.

The truth of these days is not that which really is, but what every man persuades another man to believe.

Let [children] be able to do all things, and love to do only the good.

Most men are rich in borrowed sufficiency: a man may very well say a good thing, give a good answer, cite a good sentence, without at all seeing the force of either the one or the other.

A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

The height and value of true virtue consists in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise; so far from difficulty, that boys, as well as men, and the innocent as well as the subtle, may make it their own; and it is by order and good conduct, and not by force, that it is to be acquired.

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.