Wars are to the body politic, what drams are to the individual. There are times when they may prevent a sudden death, but if frequently resorted to, or long persisted in, they heighten the energies only to hasten the dissolution.

Honor is unstable and seldom the same; for she feeds upon opinion, and is as fickle as her food.

That extremes beget extremes is an apothegm built on the most profound observation of the human mind.

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.

It is a mistake, that a lust for power is the mark of a great mind; for even the weakest have been captivated by it; and for minds of the highest order, it has no charms.

A thorough-paced knave will rarely quarrel with one whom he can cheat: his revenge is plunder; therefore he is usually the most forgiving of beings, upon the principle that if he come to an open rupture, he must defend himself; and this does not suit a man whose vocation it is to keep his hands in the pocket of another.