All government is an evil, but, of the two form's of that evil, democracy or monarchy, the sounder is monarchy; the more able to do its will, democra….

Nothing is difficult; it is only we who are indolent..

The safest principle through life, instead of reforming others, is to set about perfecting yourself..

Never disregard what your enemies say. They may be severe, they may be prejudiced, they may be determined to see only in one direction, but still in ….

The great difficulty is first to win a reputation; the next to keep it while you live; and the next to preserve it after you die, when affection and ….

Invention is totally independent of the will..

The explanation of the propensity of the English people to portrait painting is to be found in their relish for a Fact. Let a man do the grandest thi….

The only legitimate artists in England are the architects..

Genius is nothing more than common faculties refined to a greater intensity. There are no astonishing ways of doing astonishing things. All astonishi….

There must be more malice than love in the hearts of all wits..

Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence..

Never let your love for your profession overshadow your religious feeling. Depend on it that religion will strengthen, not weaken, your energies, and….

Men of genius are often considered superstitious, but the fact is, the fineness of their nerve renders them more alive to the supernatural than ordin….

Temperance in everything is requisite for happiness..

Fortunately for serious minds, a bias recognized is a bias sterilized..

Satan is to be punished eternally in the end, but for a while he triumphs..

How difficult it is to get men to believe that any other man can or does act from disinterestedness!.

Do your duty, and don't swerve from it. Do that which your conscience tells you to be right, and leave the consequences to God..

This is an age of intellectual sauces, of essence, of distillation. We have conclusions without deductions, abridgments of history and abridgments of….

It is better to make friends than adversaries of a conquered race..

Danger is the very basis of superstition. It produces a searching after help supernaturally when human means are no longer supposed to be available..