We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.

These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour.

But a wild democracy . . . too often disdains the essential principles of justice.

Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised; honours, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; and the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of the catholic church.

The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.

The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience.

A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient freedom, if they had not long since been accustomed to prefer the solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty and greatness.