Melancholy sees the worst of things...[rather than the best]

A good thought is indeed a great boon, for which God is to be first thanked; next he who is the first to utter it, and then, in a lesser, but still in a considerable degree, the friend who is the first to quote it to us. Whoever adopts and circulates a just thought, participates in the merit that originated it.

The greatest happiness comes from the greatest activity.

Weakness ineffectually seeks to disguise itself,--like a drunken man trying to show how sober he is.

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.

Common sense, alas in spite of our educational institutions, is a rare commodity.

The best evidence of merit is a cordial recognition of it whenever and wherever it may be found.