The most powerful men are not public men: a public man is responsible, and a responsible man is a slave. It is private life that governs the world.

Great revolutions, whatever may be their causes, are not lightly commenced, and are not concluded with precipitation.

Taste, when once obtained, may be said to be no acquiring faculty, and must remain stationary; but knowledge is of perpetual growth and has infinite demands. Taste, like an artificial canal, winds through a beautiful country, but its borders are confined and its term is limited. Knowledge navigates the ocean, and is perpetually on voyages of discovery.

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.

Nobody should ever look anxious except those who have no anxiety.

Customs may not be as wise as laws, but they are always more popular.

We are now in want of an art to teach how books are to be read rather than to read them. Such an art is practicable.