He that can please nobody is not so much to be pitied as he that nobody can please.

It is a mortifying truth, and ought to teach the wisest of us humility, that many of the most valuable discoveries have been the result of chance rather than of contemplation, and of accident rather than of design.

God is on the side of virtue; for whoever dreads punishment suffers it, and whoever deserves it, dreads it .

The plainest man that can convince a woman that he is really in love with her has done more to make her in love with him than the handsomest man, if he can produce no such conviction. For the love of woman is a shoot, not a seed, and flourishes most vigorously only when ingrafted on that love which is rooted in the breast of another.

Courage is generosity of the highest order, for the brave are prodigal of the most precious things.

We should not be too niggardly in our praise, for men will do more to support a character than to raise one.

The mob is a monster, with the hands of Briareus, but the head of Polyphemus,--strong to execute, but blind to perceive.