Religion prescribes to every miserable man the means of bettering his condition; nay, it shows him that the bearing of his afflictions as he ought to do, will naturally end in the removal of them.

Religion contracts the circle of our pleasures, but leaves it wide enough for her votaries to expatiate in.

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

Facts are plain spoken; hopes and figures are its aversion.

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shows none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.

Men who cherish for women the highest respect are seldom popular with them.