Some minds are made of blotting-paper: you can write nothing on them distinctly. They swallow the ink, and you find a large spot.

I could hardly feel much confidence in a man who had never been imposed upon.

The body too has its rights; and it will have them: they cannot be trampled on without peril. The body ought to be the soul's best friend. Many good men however have neglected to make it such: so it has become a fiend and has plagued them.

When the moon, after covering herself with darkness as in sorrow, at last throws off the garments of her widowhood, she does not at once expose herself impudently to the public gaze; but for a time remains veiled in a transparent cloud, till she gradually acquires courage to endure the looks and admiration of beholders.

They who disbelieve in virtue because man has never been found perfect, might as reasonably deny the sun because it is not always noon.

How idle it is to call certain things God-sends! as if there was anything else in the world.

It is said that Windham, when he came to the end of a speech, often found himself so perplexed by his own subtlety that he hardly knew which way he was going to give his vote. This is a good illustration of the fallaciousness of reasoning, and of the uncertainties which attend its practical application.