Charles William Eliot was born on November 26, 1834 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University where he graduated with honors in 1852. He studied law at Harvard Law School and after being admitted to the bar in 1855, began a successful career in the legal profession. After serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for Massachusetts, he was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Appeals
In 1870 he became president of Harvard University, serving in that capacity until his resignation in 1874. Eliot died on August 6, 1909 at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.Charles William Eliot
One could get a first-class education from a shelf of books five feet long.Charles William Eliot
