Good men have the fewest fears. He has but one great fear who fears to do wrong; he has a thousand who has overcome it.

The grandest of all laws is the law of progressive development. Under it, in the wide sweep of things, men grow wiser as they grow older, and societies better.

Next to being witty, the best thing is being able to quote another's wit.

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

The life even of a just man is a round of petty frauds; that of a knave a series of greater. We degrade life by our follies and vices, and then complain that the unhappiness which is only their accompaniment is inherent in the constitution of things.

The greatest events of an age are its best thoughts. Thought finds its way into action.

We give our best affections to the beautiful, only our second best to the useful.