There is one single fact that one may oppose to all the wit and argument of infidelity; namely, that no man ever repented of being a Christian on his death-bed.

It is doing some service to humanity, to amuse innocently. They know but little of society who think we can bear to be always employed, either in duties or meditation, without relaxation.

My retirement was now become solitude; the former is, I believe, the best state for the mind of man, the latter almost the worst. In complete solitude, the eye wants objects, the heart wants attachments, the understanding wants reciprocation. The character loses its tenderness when it has nothing to strengthen it, its sweetness when it has nothing to soothe it.

He who has once taken to drink can seldom be said to be guilty of one sin only.

The soul on earth is an immortal guest.

It is a sober truth that people who live only to amuse themselves work harder at the task than most people do in earning their daily bread.

Imagination frames events unknown, In wild, fantastic shapes of hideous ruin, And what it fears creates.