Most men are less afraid of ghosts than of facts.

No great truth bursts upon man without having its hemisphere of darkness and sorrow.

The creed of a true saint is to make the best of life, and to make the most of it.

This is the essential evil of vice: it debases a man.

Whatever may be our condition in life, it is better to lay hold of its advantages than to count its evils.

The soul, like the body, acquires vigor by the exercise of all its faculties. In the midst of the world, in overcoming difficulties, in conquering selfishness, indolence, and fear--in all the occasions of duty, it employs, and reveals by employing, energies that render it efficient and robust--that broaden its scope, adjust its powers, and mature it with a rich experience.

The conservative may clamor against reform, but he might as well clamor against the centrifugal force. He sighs for the "good old times,"--he might as well wish the oak back into the acorn.