He who gives only what he would as readily throw away, gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice.

Of all the uses of adversity which are sweet, none are sweeter than those which grow out of disappointed love.

When you give, therefore, take to yourself no credit for generosity, unless you deny yourself something in order that you may give.

Where there are large powers with little ambition... nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

A secret may be sometimes best kept by keeping the secret of its being a secret. It is not many years since a State secret of the greatest importance was printed without being divulged, merely by sending it to the press like any other matter, and trusting to the mechanical habits of the persons employed. They printed it piecemeal in ignorance of what it was about.

...and for that they were rich,/And robbed the poor; and for that they were strong,/And scourged the weak; and for that they made laws/Which turned the sweat of labor's brow to blood! - /For these their sins the nations cast them out.

If you know how a man deals with his money, how he gets it, spends it, keeps it, shares it, you know one of the most important things about him.