No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue; Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest Save he who courts the flattery.

In agony or danger, no nature is atheist. The mind that knows not what to fly to, flies to God.

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.

The keen spirit seizes the prompt occasion.

After all that corrupt poets, and more corrupt philosophers, have told us of the blandishments of pleasure, and of its tendency to soften the temper and humanize the affections, it is certain, that nothing hardens the heart like excessive and unbounded luxury; and he who refuses the fewest gratifications to his own voluptuousness, will generally be found the least susceptible of tenderness for the wants of others.

All desire the gifts of God, but they do not desire God.

To hint at a fault does more mischief than speaking out; for whatever is left for the imagination to finish will not fail to be overdone.