Wealth after all is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more.

We cannot think too highly of our nature, nor too humbly of ourselves. When we see the martyr to virtue, subject as he is to the infirmities of a man, yet suffering the tortures of a demon, and bearing them with the magnanimity of a God, do we not behold a heroism that angels may indeed surpass, but which they cannot imitate, and must admire.

The sceptic, when he plunges into the depths of infidelity, like the miser who leaps from the shipwreck, will find that the treasures which he bears about him will only sink him deeper in the abyss.

Justice to my readers compels me to admit that I write because I have nothing to do; justice to myself induces me to add that I will cease to write the moment I have nothing to say.

We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit.

Law and equity are two things which God has joined, but which man has put asunder.

Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow.