Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color...

Be cautious, but not too cautious; do not be too much afraid of making a mistake; a man who never makes a mistake will make nothing.

If we are ever in doubt what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.

Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.

What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. … In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cover...

Everyone must have felt that a cheerful friend is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness on all around; and most of us can, as we choose, make of this world either a palace...

A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.

Many savage nations worship trees, and I really think my first feeling would be one of delight and interest rather than of surprise, if some day when I am alone in the woods one of...

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no...

To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being

A wise system of education will at least teach us how little man yet knows, how much he has still to learn.

If you have written a clever and conclusive, but scathing letter, keep it back till the next day, and it will very often never go at all.

Our great mistake in education is, as it seems to me, the worship of book-learning–the confusion of instruction and education. We strain the memory instead of cultivating the mind. The children in our elementary schools...

The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.

If we succeed in giving the love of learning, the learning itself is sure to follow.

How little our libraries cost us as compared with our liquor cellars

We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.

Cultivate all your faculties; you must either use them or lose them

Our duty is to believe that for which we have sufficient evidence, and to suspend our judgment when we have not.

There are temptations which strong exercise best enables us to resist

We profit little by books we do not enjoy.

Many of the greatest men have owed their success to industry rather than to cleverness

In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is wanting.

Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.

The whole value of solitude depends upon oneself; it may be a sanctuary or a prison, a haven of repose or a place of punishment, a heaven or a hell, as we ourselves make it.

We often hear of people breaking down from overwork, but in nine out of ten they are really suffering from worry or anxiety.

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.

The whole value of solitude depends upon one’s self; it may be a sanctuary or a prison, a haven of repose or a place of punishment, a heaven or a hell, as we ourselves make...

When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace.

I can but think that the world would be better and brighter if our teachers would dwell on the duty of happiness as well as the happiness of duty; for we ought to be as...

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

All those who love Nature she loves in return, and will richly reward, not perhaps with the good things, as they are commonly called, but with the best things of this world-not with money and...

Do not be afraid of showing your affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy, than by service; love is more than money, and a kind word will give...

Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven.

To lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.

We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.

A wise system of education will at last teach us how little man yet knows, how much he has still to learn.

I cannot, however, but think that the world would be better and brighter if our teachers would dwell on the Duty of Happiness as well as the Happiness of Duty; for we ought to be...

If we are ever in doubt about what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.