If An Idiot Were To Tell You

Without Undervaluing Any Other Human Agency, It May Be Safely Affirmed That The Common School, Improved And Energized, As It Can Easily Be, May Become The Most Effective And Benignant Of All The Forces Of Civilization. Two Reasons Sustain This Position. In The First Place, There Is A Universality In Its Operation, Which Can Be Affirmed Of No Other Institution Whatever... And, In The Second Place, The Materials Upon Which It Operates Are So Pliant And Ductile As To Be Susceptible Of Assuming A Greater Variety Of Forms Than Any Other Earthly Work Of The Creator.

If Temperance Prevails, Then Education Can Prevail; If Temperance Fails, Then Education Must Fail.

Good Books Are To The Young Mind What The Warming Sun And The Refreshing Rain Of Spring Are To The Seeds Which Have Lain Dormant In The Frosts Of Winter. They Are More, For They May Save From That Which Is Worse Than Death, As Well As Bless With That Which Is Better Than Life.

Ignorance Breeds Monsters To Fill Up The Vacancies Of The Soul That Are Unoccupied By The Verities Of Knowledge.

Generosity During Life Is A Very Different Thing From Generosity In The Hour Of Death; One Proceeds From Genuine Liberality And Benevolence, The Other From Pride Or Fear.