But silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them.

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

Man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.

It is wonderful to see persons of sense passing away a dozen hours together in shuffling and dividing a pack of cards.

Nothing that isn't a real crime makes a man appear so contemptible and little in the eyes of the world as inconsistency.

Whether zeal or moderation be the point we aim at, let us keep fire out of the one, and frost out of the other.

There is something very sublime, though very fanciful, in Plato's description of the Supreme Being,--that truth is His body and light His shadow. According to this definition there is nothing so contradictory to his nature as error and falsehood.