There is not a greater paradox in nature,--than that so good a religion [as Christianity] should be no better recommended by its professors.

Before an affliction is digested, consolation ever comes too soon; and after it is digested, it comes too late.

O blessed Health! thou art above all gold and treasure; 'tis thou who enlargest the soul, and openest all its powers to receive instruction, and to relish virtue. He that has thee has little more to wish for, and he that is so wretched as to want thee, wants everything with thee.

Injuries come only from the heart.

The loneliness is the mother of wisdom.

I am persuaded ... that both man and woman bear pain or sorrow, (and, for aught I know, pleasure too) best in a horizontal position.

Positiveness is a most absurd foible. If you are in the right, it lessens your triumph; if in the wrong, it adds shame to your defeat.