One of the most marked characteristics of our day is a reckless neglect of principles, and a rigid adherence to their semblance.

A man should never boast of his courage, nor a woman of her virtue, lest their doing so should be the cause of calling their possession of them into question.

To amend mankind, moralists should show them man, not as he is, but as he ought to be.

Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence.

Wit lives in the present, but genius survives the future.

Modern historians are all would-be philosophers; who, instead of relating facts as they occurred, give us their version, or rather perversions of them, always colored by their political prejudices, or distorted to establish some theory . . .

Thoughts come maimed and plucked of plumage from the lips, which, from the pea, in the silence of your own leisure and study, would be born with far more beauty.