It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done.

Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.

O, because I have had only that kind of benevolence which consists in lying on a sofa, and cursing the church and clergy for not being martyrs and confessors. One can see, you know, very easily, how others ought to be martyrs.

Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.

the Lord gives good many things twice over; but he don't give ye a mother but once.

The greater the interest involved in a truth the more careful, self-distrustful, and patient should be the inquiry.

No ornament of a house can compare with books; they are constant company in a room, even when you are not reading them.