The mechanism she employs is much more powerful than ours, for all her levers move the human heart.

A man who is not a fool can rid himself of every folly except vanity.

The only moral lesson which is suited for a child--the most important lesson for every time of life--is this: 'Never hurt anybody.

In any case, frequent punishments are a sign of weakness or slackness in the government. There is no man so bad that he cannot be made good for something. No man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society.

Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education. .. We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovided, we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgment. Everything we do not have at our birth and which we need when we are grown is given us by education.

Accent is the soul of language; it gives to it both feeling and truth.

Women speak at an earlier age, more easily, and more agreeably than men; they are accused also of speaking more; this is as it should be, and I willingly change the reproach into a eulogy.