We are shut up in school and college recitation rooms for ten to fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing. We cannot use our hands, or our legs, or our eyes, or our arms. We do not know an edible root in the woods. We cannot tell our course by the stars, nor the hour of day by the sun. It is well if we can swim and skate. We are afraid of a horse or a cow, of a dog, of a cat, of a spider. Far better was the Roman rule to teach a boy nothing that he could not learn standing.

Men seek to be great; they would have offices, wealth, power, and fame. They think that to be great is to possess one side of nature,--the sweet, without the other side,--the bitter.

The first questions are always to be asked, and the wisest doctor is gravelled by the inquisitiveness of a child.

The only sin that we never forgive in each other is a difference in opinion.

The essence of age is intellect. Wherever that appears, we call it old.

Was never secret history but birds tell it in the bowers.

There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.