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.

It is safer to quote what is written than what is spoken. What a man writes it is fair to presume he believes as a matter of general conviction, but it is not so with what he utters in the freedom of conversation. In that he may only express the feeling of the moment, and not his settled judgment, or matured opinion.

Heaven lent you a soul, Earth will lend a grave.

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

What we call conscience in many instances, is only a wholesome fear of the law.

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

Kindred weaknesses induce friendships as often as kindred virtues.