Another powerful principle of our nature, which is the spring of war, is the passion for superiority, for triumph, for power. The human mind is aspiring, impatient of inferiority, and eager for preeminence and control.

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

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

Most joyful let the Poet be, it is through him that all men see.

It feeds and grows on the blood which it sheds. The passions , from which it springs, gain strength and fury from indulgence.

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.

God be thanked for books; they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.