When a man is made up wholly of the dove, without the least grain of the serpent in his composition, he becomes ridiculous in many circumstances of life, and very often discredits his best actions.

To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.

Should the whole frame of nature round him break, In ruin and confusion hurled, He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world.

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

There is nothing which one regards so much with an eye of mirth and pity as innocence when it has in it a dash of folly.

A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.

The peacock in all his pride does not display half the colors that appear in the garments of a British lady when she is dressed.