People seldom read a book which is given to them; and few are given. The way to spread a work is to sell it at a low price. No man will send to buy a thing that costs even sixpence without an intention to read it.

Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanics laughs at strength.

Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may be properly charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it.

Since life itself is uncertain, nothing which has life for its basis can boast much stability.

Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow, - attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.

There is nothing so minute, or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not.

Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.