Intellectually, as politically, the direction of all true progress is towards greater freedom, and along an endless succession of ideas.

The passions are like fire, useful in a thousand ways and dangerous only in one, through their excess.

As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.

The legitimate aim of criticism is to direct attention to the excellent. The bad will dig its own grave, and the imperfect may safely be left to that final neglect from which no amount of present undeserved popularity can rescue it.

The extent of poverty in the world is much exaggerated. Our sensitiveness makes half our poverty; our fears--anxieties for ills that never happen--a greater part of the other half.

An eager pursuit of fortune is inconsistent with a severe devotion to truth. The heart must grow tranquil before the thought can become searching.

The heart contracts as the pocket expands.