Why should we build our happiness on the opinons of others, when we can find it in our own hearts? - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

To be something, to be himself, and always at one with himself, a man must act as he speaks, must know what course he ought to take, and must follow that course with vigour and persistence.

A child who passes through many hands in turn, can never be well brought up. At every change he makes a secret comparison, which continually tends to lessen his respect for those who control him, and with it their authority over him. If once he thinks there are grown-up people with no more sense than children the authority of age is destroyed and his education is ruined.