Men who pass most comfortably through this world are those who possess good digestions and hard hearts.

Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare.

The last thing it [government] ought to do is to ground its proceedings on the ignorance of the people, - to yield them that which they will hereafter despise the donors for granting them.

The habit of dwelling on the past, has a narrowing as well as a debilitating influence. Behind us, there is a small, - an almost insignificant measure of time; before us, there is an eternity. It is the natural tendency of the mind to magnify the one, and to diminish the other.

We do not believe in immortality because we can't prove it, but we try to prove it because we cannot help believing it.

I have no sympathy for those who, under any pressure of circumstances, sacrifice their heart's-love for legal prostitution.

. . . is it to be understood that the principles of the Declaration of Independence bear no relation to half of the human race?