“A fig-tree looking on a fig-tree becometh fruitful,” says the Arabian proverb. And so it is with children; their first great instructor is example.”

Purposes, like eggs, unless they be hatched into action, will run into rottenness.

The truest politeness comes of sincerity.

Luck whines; labor whistles.

He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour.

Childhood is like a mirror, which reflects in after life the images first presented to it.

One might almost fear,” writes a thoughtful woman, “seeing how the women of to-day are lightly stirred up to run after some new fashion or faith, that heaven is not so near to them as it was to their mothers and grandmothers.

Self-control is only courage under another form.

Riches are oftener an impediment than a stimulus to action; and in many cases they are quite as much a misfortune as a blessing.

The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and become its public opinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries.

The greatest slave is not he who is ruled by a despot, great though that evil be, but he who is in the thrall of his own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice.

Hope… is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.

Character is undergoing constant change, for better or for worse–either being elevated on the one hand, or degraded on the other.

Those who aren’t making mistakes probably aren’t making anything.

Necessity, oftener than facility, has been the mother of invention; and the most prolific school of all has been the school of difficulty.

The principal industrial excellence of the English people lay in their capacity of present exertion for a distant object.

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book.

There’s not an instruction manual on how to deal with success, so you just have to rely on having great friends and a good team.

In history, a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind.

Don’t always blindly follow guidance and step-by-step instructions; you might run into something interesting.

The man who prays is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right.

I have no time to waste on this planet being told what to do by those who think that God has given them instructions.

Rule 1: When all else fails, follow instructions. And Rule 2: Don’t be an asshole.

The disciples obey because that’s what people do when someone rises from the dead and gives instructions.

We need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed.