I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That’s what sitting on your ass does to your face.

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing—the rest is mere sheep herding.

What harm is there in getting knowledge and learning, were it from a sot, a pot, a fool, a winter mitten, or an old slipper? 

A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.

Knowledge is an ancient error reflecting on its youth.