“Reading nurtures the soul, and an enlightened friend brings it solace. ”

“One always begins with the simple, then comes the complex, and by superior enlightenment one often reverts in the end to the simple. Such is the course of human intelligence.”

“Liberty of thought is the life of the soul.”

“Only your friends steal your books.”

“Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.”

“Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.”

“my soul is the mirror of the universe, and my body is its frame”