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.

Rhetoric is nothing but reason well dressed and argument put in order.

There are few things reason can discover with so much certainty and ease as its own insufficiency.

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

Envy, like a cold prison, benumbs and stupefies; and, conscious of its own impotence, folds its arms in despair.

Intemperance is a dangerous companion. It throws many people off their guard, betrays them to a great many indecencies, to ruinous passions, to disadvantages in fortune; makes them discover secrets, drive foolish bargains, engage in play, and often to stagger from the tavern to the stews.