Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.

Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not. Do not return to your families with the stigma of disgrace marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and conquered, and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe.

Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.

Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.

My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading.