Next to love, Sympathy is the divinest passion of the human heart.

There are cases in which a man would be ashamed not to have been imposed upon. There is a confidence necessary to human intercourse, and without which men are often more injured by their own suspicions than they would be by the perfidy of others.

Many of the greatest tyrants on the records of history have begun their reigns in the fairest manner. But the truth is, this unnatural power corrupts both the heart and the understanding.

There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well-protected pursuit.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

The wise determine from the gravity of the case; the irritable, from sensibility to oppression; the high minded, from disdain and indignation at abusive power in unworthy hands.