That was a judicious mother who said, "I obey my children for the first year of their lives, but ever after I expect them to obey me.

Men will imitate and admire his unmoved firmness, his inflexible conscience for the right; and yet his gentleness, as tender as a woman's, his moderation of spirit, which not all the heat of party could inflame, nor all the jars and disturbances of this country shake out of its place: I swear you to an emulation of his justice, his moderation, and his mercy.

It is not what we read, but what we remember, that makes us learned. It is not what we intend, but what we do that makes us useful. It is not a few faint wishes, but a life long struggle, that makes us valiant.

Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.

Experience is the mother of custom.

The grossest, the cruelest, the most selfish, the most easily pervertible and perverted thing in this world, is government.

It is not when the cable lies coiled up on the deck that you know how strong or how weak it is; it is when it is put to the test.