It is far more important to me to preserve an unblemished conscience than to compass any object however great.

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

Natural amiableness is too often seen in company with sloth, with uselessness, with the vanity of fashionable life.

We never know a greater character unless there is in ourselves something congenial to it.

The worst tyrants are those which establish themselves in our own breasts.

All that we do outwardly is but the expression and completion of our inward thought. To work effectively, we must think clearly; to act nobly, we must think nobly.

It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.