Philosophy goes no further than probabilities, and in every assertion keeps a doubt in reserve.

Human improvement is from within outward.

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

The first duty of an historian is to be on his guard against his own sympathies...

The solitary side of our nature demands leisure for reflection upon subjects on which the dash and whirl of daily business, so long as its clouds rise thick about us, forbid the intellect to fasten itself.

The Providence that watches over the affairs of men works out of their mistakes, at times, a healthier issue than could have been accomplished by their wisest forethought.

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.