Woman is not made to be the admiration of everybody , but the happiness of one.

To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.

All virtue which is impracticable is spurious.

I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pain of others

The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling for others but from an over-sensibilit y for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires

To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed toward a love to our country and to mankind. The interest of that portion of social arrangement is a trust in the hands of all those who compose it; and as none but bad men would justify it in abuse, none but traitors would barter it away for their own personal advantage.

There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination.