Keep notes on whatever strikes you during reading without imposing a thematic order, so that grammar, law, philosophy, and history sit side by side as they were encountered. The arrangement follows the sequence of discovery rather than subject, trading systematic coverage for a record of an active mind's actual path through its sources.
Citing earlier authors verbatim, naming them and reproducing their exact words, transmits the content of works that may otherwise perish. A compiler's value lies partly in acting as a conduit, so attribution and direct quotation are treated as duties, not decoration.
The Latin word humanitas is commonly misused to mean benevolence, but educated usage restricts it to learning and training in the liberal arts, matching the Greek paideia. The point is that the word names the cultivation that makes someone fully human through instruction, not a disposition of mercy.
A runaway slave once removed a thorn from a lion's paw in a cave; years later, condemned to the arena, he was spared when that same lion recognized him and refused to attack. The anecdote is offered as a reported eyewitness account to illustrate that gratitude and memory can appear even in a beast.