[Courage] arises in a great measure from the consciousness of strength . . .

Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.

Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates who reigned in the capital of the East was rejected in the purer schools of Rome and Alexandria.

In the productions of the mind, as in those of the soil, the gifts of nature are excelled by industry and skill . . .

The mixture of Sarmatic and German blood had contributed to improve the features of the Alani, to whiten their swarthy complexions, and to tinge their hair with a yellowish cast, which is seldom found in the Tartar race.

[The] liberty of divorce does not contribute to happiness and virtue. The facility of separation would destroy all mutual confidence, and inflame every trifling dispute . . .

Recluse fanatics have few ideas or sentiments to communicate . . .