Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking.

[Personal] industry must be faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal interest.

But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.

The character of the tribunes was, in every respect, different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest and humble; but their persons were sacred and inviolable. Their force was suited rather for opposition than for action. They were instituted to defend the oppressed, to pardon offences, to arraign the enemies of the people, and, when they judged it necessary, to stop, by a single word, the whole machine of government.

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

The Indian who fells the tree that he may gather the fruit, and the Arab who plunders the caravans of commerce are actuated by the same impulse of savage nature, and relinquish for momentary rapine the long and secure possession of the most important blessings.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.