Time, the cradle of hope, but the grave of ambition, is the stern corrector of fools, but the salutary counselor of the wise, bringing all they dread to the one, and all they desire to the other.

To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it: the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary.

Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it; anything but live for it.

There are two modes of establishing our reputation; to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues.

Precisely in proportion to our own intellectual weakness will be our credulity as to those mysterious powers assumed by others.

Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied.

The blindness of bigotry, the madness of ambition, and the miscalculations of diplomacy seek their victims principally amongst the innocent and the unoffending. The cottage is sure to suffer for every error of the court, the cabinet, or the camp. When error sits in the seat of power and of authority, and is generated in high places, it may be compared to that torrent which originates indeed in the mountain, but commits its devastation in the vale.