When slavery is established in any part of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom.

It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men.

Unsociable humors are contracted in solitude, which will, in the end, not fail of corrupting the understanding as well as the manners, and of utterly disqualifying a man for the satisfactions and duties of life. Men must be taken as they are, and we neither make them or ourselves better by flying from or quarreling with them.

The greatest sin is to do nothing because you can only do a little.

Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling... When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are, delightful, as we every day experience.

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