“We improve ourselves by victory over our self.  There must be contests, and you must win. The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience. I make it a point never to argue with people for whose opinion I have no respect. As I know no way of judging future but by its past. Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.”