The question is not whether a doctrine is beautiful but whether it is true. When we wish to go to a place, we do not ask whether the road leads through a pretty country, but whether it is the right road.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.

It is well for us that we are born babies in intellect. Could we understand half what mothers say and do to their infants, we should be filled with a conceit of our own importance, which would render us insupportable through life.

Every Irishman, the saying goes, has a potato in his head.

Some people carry their hearts in their heads; very many carry their heads in their hearts. The difficulty is to keep them apart, yet both actively working together.

Only when the voice of duty is silent, or when it has already spoken, may we allowably think of the consequences of a particular action.

What hypocrites we seem to be whenever we talk of ourselves! Our words sound so humble, while our hearts are so proud.