Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.

Adversity, if for no other reason, is of benefit, since it is sure to bring a season of sober reflection. People see clearer at such times. Storms purify the atmosphere.

A woman's pity often opens the door to love.

There ought to be such an atmosphere in every Christian church that a man going there and sitting two hours should take the contagion of heaven, and carry home a fire to kindle the altar whence he came.

What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away.

The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next.

The worst prison is not of stone. It is of a throbbing heart, outraged by an infamous life.