The instructor... does not profess to teach philosophy, but to philosophise. - Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet

The past does not interest, the present does not satisfy, the future alone is the object which engages us.

The one condition under which all powers, and consequently the intellectual faculties, are developed, is exercise.

[T]he paramount end of liberal study is the development of the student’s mind, and... knowledge is principally useful as a mean of determining the faculties to that exercise, through which this development is accomplished... the main duty of a Professor to consist not simply in communicating information, but in doing this in such a manner... that the information he conveys may be the occasion of awakening his pupils to a vigorous and varied exertion of their faculties.