A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.

You despise books; you whose lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure or indolence; but remember that all the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.

True gentleness is founded on a sense of what we owe to him who made us and to the common nature which we all share. It arises from reflection on our own failings and wants, and from just views of the condition and duty of man. It is native feeling heightened and improved by principle.

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

Tis the good reader that makes the good book.

Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

If we say a little it is easy to add, but having said too much it is hard to withdraw and never can it be done so quickly as to hinder the harm of our success.

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.