A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.

Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.

Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.

Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.

Every artist was first an amateur.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.