Where evil may be done, it is right to ponder; where only suffered, know the shortest pause is much too long.

The constant habit of perusing devout books is so indispensable, that it has been termed the oil of the lamp of prayer. Too much reading, however, and too little meditation, may produce the effect of a lamp inverted; which is extinguished by the very excess of that ailment, whose property is to feed it.

Anger is a violent act, envy a constant habit - no one can be always angry, but he may be always envious.

The ingenuity of self-deception is inexhaustible.

It is a part of Christianity to convert every natural talent to a religious use.

Indeed, I have, alas! outlived almost every one of my contemporaries. One pays dear for living long.

it may be in morals as it is in optics, the eye and the object may come too close to each other, to answer the end of vision. There are certain faults which press too near our self-love to be even perceptible to us.