To admit that there is any such thing as chance, in the common acceptation of the term, would be to attempt to establish a power independent of God.

No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.

The seat of perfect contentment is in the head; for every individual is thoroughly satisfied with his own proportion of brains.

Neutrality is no favorite with Providence, for we are so formed that it is scarcely possible for us to stand neuter in our hearts, although we may deem it prudent to appear so in our actions

It may be observed of good writing, as of good blood, that it is much easier to say what it is composed of than to compose it.

Happiness is much more equally divided than some of us imagine. One man shall possess most of the materials, but little of the thing; another may possess much of the thing, but very few of the material. In this particular view of it, happiness had been beautifully compared to the man in the desert--he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.

The upright, if he suffer calumny to move him, fears the tongue of man more than the eye of God.