The best that we can do for one another is to exchange our thoughts freely; and that, after all, is about all.

Just laws are no restraint upon the freedom of the good, for the good man desires nothing which a just law will interfere with.

Men are made by nature unequal. It is vain, therefore, to treat them as if they were equal.

The essence of true nobility is neglect of self. Let the thought of self pass in, and the beauty of a great action is gone, like the bloom from a soiled flower.

Fear is the parent of cruelty.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

Ignorance is the dominion of absurdity.