Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

It has been said that men carry on a kind of coasting trade with religion. In the voyage of life, they profess to be in search of heaven, but take care not to venture so far in their approximations to it, as entirely to lose sight of the earth; and should their frail vessel be in danger of shipwreck, they will gladly throw their darling vices overboard, as other mariners their treasures, only to fish them up again when the storm is over.

Sensibility would be a good portress if she had but one hand; with her right she opens the door to pleasure, but with her left to pain.

The martyrs to vice far exceed the martyrs to virtue, both in endurance and in number.

It is seldom that statesmen have the option of choosing between a good and an evil.

Revenge is a much more punctual paymaster than gratitude

There are some men who are fortune's favorites, and who, like cats, light forever on their legs.