The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying.

Like a morning dream, life becomes more and more bright the longer we live, and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter as we approach the end.

The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surround them; their notions of good and evil are the result of the moral atmosphere they breathe.

Never write on a subject without first having read yourself full on it; and never read on a subject till you have thought yourself hungry on it.

It is easy to flatter; it is harder to praise.

What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.

In later life, as in earlier, only a few persons influence the formation of our character; the multitude pass us by like a distant army. One friend, one teacher, one beloved, one club, one dining table, one work table are the means by which one's nation and the spirit of one's nation affect the individual.