There is a wide difference between admiration and love. The sublime, which is the cause of the former, always dwells on great objects and terrible; the latter on small ones and pleasing; we submit to what we admire, but we love what submits to us: in one case we are forced, in the other, we are flattered, into compliance.

Contempt is not a thing to be despised.

The great Error of our Nature is, not to know where to stop, not to be satisfied with any reasonable Acquirement; not to compound with our Condition; but to lose all we have gained by an insatiable Pursuit after more.

The question is not whether you have a right to render people miserable, but whether it is not in your best interest to make them happy.

A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.

The most favourable laws can do very little towards the happiness of people when the disposition of the ruling power is adverse to them.

War never leaves where it found a nation.