A good disposition is more valuable than gold, for the latter is the gift of fortune, but the former is the dower of nature.

We are apt to rely upon future prospects, and become really expensive while we are only rich in possibility. We live up to our expectations, not to our possessions, and make a figure proportionable to what we may be, not what we are.

Waning moons their settled periods keep, to swell the billows and ferment the deep.

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter.

Tradition is an important help to history, but its statements should be carefully scrutinized before we rely on them.

One of the most important but one of the most difficult things for a powerful mind is to be its own master.

The person who has a firm trust in the Supreme Being is powerful in his power, wise by his wisdom, happy by his happiness.