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.

That profound firmness which enabler a man to regard difficulties but as evils to be surmounted, no matter what shape they may assume.

A public debt is a kind of anchor in the storm; but if the anchor be too heavy for the vessel, she will be sunk by that very weight which was intended for her preservation.

Tomorrow! It is a period nowhere to be found in all the registers of time, unless, perchance, in the fool's calendar.

Shakespeare, Butler and Bacon have rendered it extremely difficult for all who come after them to be sublime, witty or profound.

He that studies books alone, will know how things ought to be; and he that studies men, will know how things are.

In order to try whether a vessel be leaky, we first prove it with water before we trust it with wine.