A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.

There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.

If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

My weapon is literature

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion.

There is no authority who decides what is a good idea.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

It is better to know how to learn than to know.

The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

The secret of life is not enjoyment but education through experience.

Suddenly degrees aren't worth anything. Isn't that true? When I was a student, if you had a degree, you had a job. If you didn't have a job it's because you didn't want one. And I didn't want one, frankly.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

I cannot live without books.

The fullness of knowledge only comes through the awareness of ignorance.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.