Good company, lively conversation, and the endearments of friendship fill the mind with great pleasure.

In their nomination to office they will not appoint to the exercise of authority as to a pitiful job, but as to a holy function.

Great men are never sufficiently shown but in struggles.

Among precautions against ambition, it may not be amiss to take precautions against our own. I must fairly say, I dread our own power and our own ambition: I dread our being too much dreaded.

Economy is a distributive virtue, and consists not in saving but selection. Parsimony requires no providence, no sagacity, no powers of combination, no comparison, no judgment.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

It is known that the taste--whatever it is--is improved exactly as we improve our judgment, by extending our knowledge, by a steady attention to our object, and by frequent exercise.