Daniel Coit Gilman

“ The biographer of Isaac Casaubon said of him: "The scholar is greater than his books. The result of his labors is not so many thousand pages, but himself." So we say of our friend, "The result of his labors is not so many thousand pages, but himself,"—an example, a guide, an inspiration to the younger scholars of this country who now and henceforward proclaim him Master.
For many years I have seen but little of Professor Whitney. Our homes have been far apart, and our vacations have not brought us together. ”

“ A certain consciousness of dignity—one might call it self-appreciation—he maintained, but without display, without haughtiness, without detraction, or, to employ a positive phrase, with a just and discriminating recognition of the worth of others. He had no patience with pretence. Real contributions to knowledge, however small, and endeavors for the promotion of science, however inadequate, he welcomed and encouraged. The youngest scholar, if he was earnest, true, intelligent, and careful, might be sure of help and counsel; but the oldest who was careless or erratic would not escape criticism. ”

“ Petersburg Lexicon, in the preparation of school-books, in the revision of Webster's Dictionary, and long afterwards in the editorial supervision of the Century Dictionary, in the delivery of lectures at Boston, Washington, Baltimore, and elsewhere,—all this work, performed without hurry, and for the most part without nervous irritation or undue fatigue, seemed to be the consequence, not so much of unusual facility, as of extraordinary industry, and still more extraordinary economy in the direction of his intellectual resources. ”