It was observed of Elizabeth that she was weak herself, but chose wise counsellors; to which it was replied, that to choose wise counsellors was, in a prince, the highest wisdom.

As no roads are so rough as those that have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints.

The greatest genius is never so great as when it is chastised and subdued by the highest reason.

Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.

We often regret we did not do otherwise, when that very otherwise would, in all probability, have done for us.

He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place.

It is a curious paradox that precisely in proportion to our own intellectual weakness will be our credulity, to those mysterious powers assumed by others; and in those regions of darkness and ignorance where man cannot effect even those things that are within the power of man, there we shall ever find that a blind belief in feats that are far beyond those powers has taken the deepest root in the minds of the deceived, and produced the richest harvest to the knavery of the deceiver.