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….

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

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 ….

Some persons are so devotional they have not one bit of true religion in them..

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 ….

Beware of the beginnings of vice. Do not delude yourself with the belief that it can be argued against in the presence of the exciting cause. Nothing….

Mistrusts sometimes come over one's mind of the justice of God. But let a real misery come again, and to whom do we fly? To whom do we instinctively ….

No man, perhaps, is so wicked as to commit evil for its own sake. Evil is generally committed under the hope of some advantage the pursuit of virtue ….

When a man is no longer anxious to do better than well, he is done for..

There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil..

The longer a man lives in this world the more he must be convinced that all domestic quarrels had better never be obtruded on the public; for, let th….

Art is a reality, not a definition; inasmuch as it approaches a reality, it approaches perfection, and inasmuch as it approaches a mere definition, i….

We are a compound of both here and hereafter; we shall be made responsible for the actions of both while here. Anything beyond this is beyond our pow….

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

One of the surest evidences of an elevated taste is the power of enjoying works of impassioned terrorism, in poetry, and painting. The man who can lo….

Genius in poverty is never feared, because nature, though liberal in her gifts in one instance, is forgetful in another..