“If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.”

whatsoever a man does against his conscience, is sin.

Life itself is but Motion, and can never be without Desire, nor without Feare, no more than without Sense.

Now I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.

War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting but in a tract of time,wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.

Knowledge is power.

Desire, to know why, and how, curiosity; such as is in no living creature but man

Words are the counters of wise men, and the money of fools.

The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame.

Fact be virtuous, or vicious, as Fortune pleaseth.

Eloquence, with flattery, disposeth men to confide in them that have it; because the former is seeming wisdom, the latter seeming kindness.

No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

The understanding is by the flame of the passions never enlightened, but dazzled.

Look not at the greatness of the evil past, but the greatness of the good to follow.

Men are moved by appetites and aversions.

True’ and ‘false’ are attributes of speech, not of things. And where speech is not, there is neither ‘truth’ nor ‘falsehood.

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal.

I was an imaginative child and learning to read was like unlocking another dimension in my mind.

The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers.

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

I like books that aren’t just lovely but that have memories in themselves.

Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.

Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency.

It does not matter how many books you have, but how good the books are which you have.