Histories used often to be stories: the fashion now is to leave out the story. Our histories are stall-fed: the facts are absorbed by the reflexions, as the meat is sometimes by the fat.

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.

Who is fit to govern others? He who governs himself. You might as well have said: nobody.

When we skim along the surface of history we see little but the rough barren rocks that rise out of it.

When will talkers refrain from evil speaking: when listeners refrain from evil-hearing.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom: Christianity is the wisdom of love.

They who boast of their tolerance merely give others leave to be as careless about religion as they are themselves. A walrus might as well pride itself on its endurance of cold.