Weak minds may be injured by novel-reading; but sensible people find both amusement and instruction therein.

Interest works night and day in fair weather and in foul. It gnaws at a man's substance with invisible teeth.

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.

Affliction comes to us all ...not to impoverish, but to enrich us, as the plough enriches the field; to multiply our joy, as the seed, by planting, is multiplied a thousand-fold.

Everyone has conscience enough to hate; few have religion enough to love.

Poverty is very good in poems but very bad in the house; very good in maxims and sermons but very bad in practical life.

Many men are mere warehouses full of merchandise--the head, the heart, are stuffed with goods. . . . There are apartments in their souls which were once tenanted by taste, and love, and joy, and worship, but they are all deserted now, and the rooms are filled with earthy and material things.