The Greeks adored their gods by the simple compliment of kissing their hands; and the Romans were treated as atheists if they would not perform the same act when they entered a temple. This custom, however, as a religious ceremony declined with paganism,but was continued as a salutation by inferiors to their superiors, or as a token of esteem among friends.

No government can be long secure without a formidable opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.

You will in due season find your property is less valuable, and your freedom less complete.

Predominant opinions are generally the opinions of the generation that is vanishing.

In the hands of a genius, engineering turns to magic, philosophy becomes poetry, and science pure imagination.

The profound thinker always suspects that he is superficial.

An amateur may not be an artist, though an artist should be an amateur.