Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

Scholars are wont to sell their birthright for a mess of learning.

For a man needs only to be turned around once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost ... not 'til we are lost ... do we begin to find ourselves.

I love a life whose plot is simple.

Our life is frittered away by detail ... Simplify, simplify.

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

Associate reverently, as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.

He is the rich man, and enjoys the fruit of his riches, who summer and winter forever can find delight in his own thoughts.

It is tranquil people who accomplish much.

The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.