A cunning man overreaches no one half as much as himself.

The beginnings of moral enterprises in this world are never to be measured by any apparent growth. ... At length comes the sudden ripeness and the full success, and he who is called in at the final moment deems this success his own. He is but the reaper and not the labourer. Other men sowed and tilled and he but enters into their labours.

All men are tempted. There is no man that lives that can't be broken down, provided it is the right temptation, put in the right spot.

Self-government by the whole people is the teleologic idea. The republican form of government is the noblest and the best, as it is the latest.

Some of God's noblest sons, I think, will be selected from those that know how to take wealth, with all its temptations, and maintain godliness therewith. It is hard to be a saint standing in a golden niche.

A very common flower adds generosity to beauty. It gives joy to the poor, to the rude, and to the multitudes who could have no flowers were nature to charge a price for her blossoms.

Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they are going to catch you in next.