The nearer we approach great men, the clearer we see that they are men.

A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.

Genius and great abilities are often wanting; sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done; others for what they would have done.

A guilty man is punished as an example for the mob; an innocent man convicted is the business of every honest citizen.

Too great carelessness, equally with excess in dress, multiplies the wrinkles of old age, and makes its decay still more conspicuous.

No road is to long for him who advances slowly and does not hurry and no attainment is beyond his reach who equips himself with patience to achieve it

When a secret is revealed, it is the fault of the man who confided it.