The truth is, we never make for others the allowance we make for ourselves; and we should deny even our own words, could we hear them spoken by another.

It is amazing how much a thought expands and refines by being put into speech: I should think it could hardly know itself.

to the many, witticisms not only require to be explained, like riddles, but are also like new shoes, which people require to wear many times before they get accustomed to them.

From religion ... they will learn the only true lesson of equality - the conviction that our destinies are not in our own hands; they will see that no situation in life is without its share of suffering; - and this perpetual reference to a higher power ought equally to teach the rich humility, and the poor devotion.

That which is always within our reach, is always the last thing we take; and the chances are, that what we can do every day, we never do at all.

There is a large stock on hand; but somehow or other, nobody's experience ever suits us but our own.

Ignorance, far more than idleness, is the mother of all the vices; and how recent has been the admission, that knowledge should be the portion of all? The destinies of the future lie in judicious education; an education that must be universal, to be beneficial.