“It is not all books that are as dull as their readers.”

“To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will tax the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.”

“Books which are books are all that you want, and there are but half a dozen in any thousand.”

“Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare”

“There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dullness.”

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

“Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer? Read your fate, see what is before you, and walk on into futurity.”