... though mathematics may teach a man how to build a bridge, it is what the Scotch Universities call the humanities, that teach him to be civil and sweet-tempered.

All revolutions are treason until they are accomplished.

For still I see that forethought spares afterthought and after-sorrow.

That is the great mistake about the affections. It is not the rise and fall of empires, the birth and death of kings, or the marching of armies that move them most. When they answer from their depths, it is to the domestic joys and tragedies of life.

if a thing is to be done, there is no time like the hour that has not struck.

Laughter is always fatal to feeling.

move not in your anger; it is like putting to sea in a tempest.