True elegance becomes the more so as it approaches simplicity.

God makes the life fertile by disappointments, as he makes the ground fertile by frosts.

We know much of a writer by his style. An open and imperious disposition is shown in short sentences, direct and energetic. A secretive and proud mind is cold and obscure in style. An affectionate and imaginative nature pours out luxuriantly, and blossoms all over with ornament.

Laws and institutions, like clocks, must occasionally be cleaned, wound up, and set to true time.

True obedience is true freedom.

Leaves die, but trees do not. They only undress.

A man's true estate of power and riches is to be in himself; not in his dwelling or position or external relations, but in his own essential character.