Wealth is a relative thing since those who have little and want less are richer than those who have much but want more.

It is an easy and vulgar thing to please the mob, and not a very arduous task to astonish them; but essentially to benefit and to improve them is a work fraught with difficulty, and teeming with danger.

In all places, and in all times, those religionists who have believed too much have been more inclined to violence and persecution than those who have believed too little.

It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies; seldom safe to venture to instruct, even our friends.

Some philosophers would give a sex to revenge, and appropriate it almost exclusively to the female mind. But, like most other vices, it is of both genders; yet, because wounded vanity and slighted love are the two most powerful excitements to revenge, it has been thought, perhaps, to rage with more violence in the female heart.

It is good to act as if. It is even better to grow to the point where it is no longer an act.

There are both dull correctness and piquant carelessness; it is needless to say which will command the most readers and have the most influence.