Contact with the affairs of state is one of the most corrupting of the influences to which men are exposed.

On the human imagination, events produce the effects of time. Thus, he who has travelled far and seen much, is apt to fancy that he has lived long; and the history that most abounds in important incidents, soonest assumes the aspect of antiquity.

What will the axemen do, when they have cut their way from sea to sea?

The common faults of American language are an ambition of effect, a want of simplicity, and a turgid abuse of terms.

There are evils worse than death.

How easy it is for generous sentiments, high courtesy, and chivalrous courage to lose their influence beneath the chilling blight of selfishness, and to exhibit to the world a man who was great in all the minor attributes of character, but who was found wanting when it became necessary to prove how much principle is superior to policy.

It is seldom men think of death in the pride of their health and strength.