There are only two things in which the false professors of all religions have agreed--to persecute all other sects and to plunder their own.

Doubt is the vestibule of faith.

Avarice has ruined more men than prodigality, and the blindest thoughtlessness of expenditure has not destroyed so many fortunes as the calculating but insatiable lust of accumulation.

There is this paradox in pride - it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.

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

To judge by the event is an error all commit: for in every instance courage, if crowned with success, is heroism; if clouded by defeat, temerity. When Nelson fought his battle in the Sound, it was the result alone that decided whether he was to kiss a hand at court or a rod at a court-martial.

There were moments of despondency when Shakespeare thought himself no poet, and Raphael no painter; when the greatest wits have doubted the excellence of their happiest efforts.