It is a bitter thought, how different a thing the Christianity of the world might have been, if the Christian faith had been adopted as the religion of the empire under the auspices of Marcus Aurelius instead of those of Constantine.

Most persons have but a very moderate capacity of happiness. Expecting...in marriage a far greater degree of happiness than they commonly find, and knowing not that the fault is in their own scanty capability of happiness.

A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule.

He who lets the world choose his plan of life for him has need of no other faculty than that of ape-like imitation.

It is given to no human being to stereotype a set of truths, and walk safely by their guidance with his mind's eye closed.

One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.

A state of things in which a large portion of the most active and inquiring intellects find it advisable to keep the genuine principles and grounds of their convictions within their own breasts, and attempt, in what they address to the public, to fit as much as they can of their own conclusions to premises which they have internally renounced, cannot send forth the open, fearless characters, and logical, consistent intellects who once adorned the thinking world.