Various

“ Books are certainly a great help in this pursuit; but I know not if they are the greatest; the greatest I rather judge are one's own earnest reflections and meditations, and, to begin with, a candid, just, and sincere mind in oneself. Books, however, especially the Books of sincere and true-seeing men, are indisputably a great resource of guidance and assistance ”

“ With reference to one observation by Carlyle, it should be pointed out that the letter was written before Mr. Jowett "made Plato an English classic":—
5, Cheyne-row, Chelsea,
Feb. 14, 1871.
Dear Sir,—Your letter has pleased and interested me; and certainly I wish you progress in your ingenuous pursuit, which may be defined as the highest and truest for all men in all ranks of life. Evermore is Wisdom the highest of conquests to every son of Adam, nay, in a large sense, the one conquest; and the precept to every one of us is ever, "Above all thy gettings get understanding." ”

“ I have more than once thought of such a list as you speak of (for we all, in universities as well as workshops, labour under that difficulty, and in the end each of us has to pick his own way) ; but a good list of the kind would be extremely difficult to do; and would be both an envious and precarious one. Impossible to be right in all your judgments of Books ”