“The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.”

“The lover seeks in marriage his private felicity and perfection, with no prospective end; and nature hides in his happiness her own ends, namely, progeny, or the perpetuity of the race.”

“A sufficient and sure method of civilization is in the influence of good women.”

“The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet.”

“The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops – no, but the kind of man the country turns out.”

“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.”

“We are too civil to books. For a few golden sentences we will turn over and actually read a volume of four or five hundred pages.”