“Nothing can supply the place of books. They are cheering or soothing companions in solitude, illness, affliction. The wealth of both continents would not compensate for the good they impart.”

“To be prosperous is not to be superior, and should form no barrier between men. Wealth out not to secure the prosperous the slightest consideration. The only distinctions which should be recognized are those of the soul, of strong principle, of incorruptible integrity, of usefulness, of cultivated intellect, of fidelity in seeking the truth.”

“To live content with small means.To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion.To be worthy not respectable, and wealthy not rich.To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes, and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.This is to be my symphony.”

“...To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly ... to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with open heart; await occasions, hurry never ... this is my symphony.”

“Reading is the royal road to intellectual eminence...Truly good books are more than mines to those who can understand them. They are the breathings of the great souls of past times. Genius is not embalmed in them, but lives in them perpetually.”

“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy the intercourse with superior minds...”

“I laugh, for hope hath a happy place with me; If my boat sinks, 'tis to another sea.”