All quotes

There is the standing danger that the material of formal instruction will be merely the subject matter of the schools, isolated from the subject matter of life-experience.

To be a recipient of a communication is to have an enlarged and changed experience.

In this way only we can ascertain the bent of our own tastes, for it is a general, though not of course an invariable, rule, that we profit little by books which we do not enjoy.

Many readers miss much of the pleasure of reading by forcing themselves to dwell too long continuously on one subject.

Of all the privileges we enjoy in this nineteenth century there is none, perhaps, for which we ought to be more thankful than for the easier access to books.

So delightful indeed are books that we must be careful not to forget other duties for them; in cultivating the mind we must not neglect the body.

Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness.

As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.

It has been the happy combination of art and science which has trained us to perceive the beauty which surrounds us.

Education ought not to cease when we leave school; but if well begun there, will continue through life.

Moreover, whatever our occupation or profession in life may be, it is most desirable to create for ourselves some other special interest.

Whatever may be the subject of our choice, we shall find enough, and more than enough, to repay the devotion of a lifetime.

There is, however, a true Music of Nature,--the song of birds, the whisper of leaves, the ripple of waters upon a sandy shore, the wail of wind or sea.

In endless aspects science is as wonderful and interesting as a fairy tale.

In short, children should be trained to observe and to think, for in that way there would be opened out to them a source of the purest enjoyment for leisure hours, and the wisest judgment in the work of life.

Books, we know, are almost innumerable; our hours for reading are, alas! very few.

How thankful we ought to be for these inestimable blessings, for this numberless host of friends who never weary, betray, or forsake us!

In reading, however, it is most important to select subjects in which one is interested.

It is wonderful how much innocent happiness we thoughtlessly throw away.

To any lover of books the very mention of these names brings back a crowd of delicious memories, grateful recollections of peaceful home hours, after the labors and anxieties of the day.

The whole world seems richer now that I have found this plant in so noble a landscape.

After listening to it in all kinds of winds, night and day, season after season, I think I could approximate to my position on the mountains by this pine-music alone.

The most respectful deference is due to doubts originating in pure patriotism and sustained by venerated authority.

He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that

To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty.