With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose; for good books are as scarce as good companions...

He that is gone so far as to cut the claws of the lion, will not feel himself quite secure, until he has also drawn his teeth.

If a cause be good, the most violent attack of its enemies will not injure it so much as an injudicious defence of it by its friends.

The sun should not set upon our anger, neither should he rise upon our confidence. We should forgive freely, but forget rarely. I will not be revenged, and this I owe to my enemy; but I will remember, and this I owe to myself.

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

Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route.

What is earthly happiness? that phantom of which we hear so much, and see so little; whose promises are constantly given and constantly broken, but as constantly believed; that cheats us with the sound instead of the substance, and with the blossom instead of the fruit. Like Juno, she is a goddess in pursuit, but a cloud in possession.