Hope is a vigorous principle; it is furnished with light and heat to advise and execute; it sets the head and heart to work, and animates a man to do his utmost. And thus, by perpetually pushing and assurance, it puts a difficulty out of countenance, and makes a seeming impossibility give way.

Learning gives us a fuller conviction of the imperfections of our nature; which one would think, might dispose us to modesty.

Dangerous principles impose upon our understanding, emasculate our spirits, and spoil our temper.

Truth is the band of union and the basis of human happiness. Without this virtue there is no reliance upon language, no confidence in friendship, no security in promises and oaths.

Books are a guide in youth, and an entertainment for age.

A man by tumbling his thoughts, and forming them into expressions, gives them a new fermentation, which works them into a finer body.

Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom.