We are apt to think it the finest era of the world when America was beginning to be discovered, when a bold sailor, even if he were wrecked, might alight on a new kingdom.

A man falling into dark waters seeks a momentary footing even on sliding stones.

No great deed is done by falterers who ask for certainty.

Blameless people are always the most exasperating.

The dull mind, once arriving at an inference that flatters the desire, is rarely able to retain the impression that the notion from which the inference started was purely problematic.

In so complex a thing as human nature, we must consider it is hard to find rules without exception.

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.