All noble enthusiasms pass through a feverish stage, and grow wiser and more serene

Reading is the royal road to intellectual eminence...Truly good books are more than mines to those who can understand them. They are the breathings of the great souls of past times. Genius is not embalmed in them, but lives in them perpetually.

We must not waste life in devising means. It is better to plan less and do more.

The best books for a man are not always those which the wise recommend, but often those which meet the peculiar wants, the natural thirst of his mind, and therefore awaken interest and rivet thought.

The only freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a people's energy, intellect, and virtues.

Progress, the growth of power, is the end and boon of liberty; and, without this, a people may have the name, but want the substance and spirit of freedom.

A man might pass for insane who should see things as they are.