No single character is ever so great that a nation can afford to form itself upon it. Imitation belittles. This appears in the instance of the Chinese. The Chinese are so many Confucii; in miniature. And so with the Jews. Moses, the lawgiver, is poorly represented by Moses, the old clothesman ; or even by Dives, the hanker.

We should not so much esteem our poverty as a misfortune, were it not that the world treats it so much as a crime

Hard workers are usually honest; industry lifts them above temptation.

In politics, merit is rewarded by the possessor being raised, like a target, to a position to be fired at.

Adhesion to one idea is monomania; to few, slavery.

Wine is a treacherous friend who you must always be on guard for.

In one important respect a man is fortunate in being poor. His responsibility to God is so much the less