Undoubtedly a man is to labor to better his condition, but first to better himself.

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.

There is but a very minute portion of the creation which we can turn into food and clothes, or gratification for the body; but the whole creation may be used to minister to the sense of beauty.

The hills are reared, the seas are scooped in vain If learning's altar vanish from the plain.

But the ground of a man's culture lies in his nature, not in his calling. His powers are to be unfolded on account of their inherent dignity, not their outward direction. He is to be educated, because he is a man, not because he is to make shoes, nail, or pins.

To give a generous hope to a man of his own nature, is to enrich him immeasurably.

God is another name for human intelligence raised above all error and imperfection, and extended to all possible truth.