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.

When thou hast truly thanked the Lord for every blessing sent, But little time will then remain for murmur or lament.

I am persuaded that there is no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure, than that which is felt by a grateful son towards a mother.

There is scarcely any fault in another which offends us more than vanity, though perhaps there is none that really injures us so little.

Affliction is the school in which great virtues are acquired, in which great characters are formed.

A small unkindness is a great offence.

The world does not require so much to be informed as to be reminded.