“Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.”

Suffering — how divine it is, how misunderstood! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of the mind for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.

A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.

We chase dreams and embrace shadows.

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.

It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.

The history books which contain no lies are extremely tedious.

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.

Science neither cares to please nor to displease. She is inhuman. It is not science but poetry that charms and consoles. And that is why poetry is more necessary than science.

When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.

Of all sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.

My idea of a delicious time is to read a book that is wonderful. But the ruling passion of my life is being a seeker after truth and the divine.

I am not well read, but when I do read, I read well.

She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.

Books, indeed, were his sole luxuries.

Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.

I love relaxing with a good book.

As long as your intentions are solid and about growth and progression and being productive and not being idle, then you’re doing good in my book.