And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper. I have an affection for it, for it was the offspring of happy days, when death and grief were but words, which found no true echo in my heart.

The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.

Life is obstinate and clings closest where it is most hated.

The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature.

The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned.

These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and godlike.

Elegance is inferior to virtue.