A father is very miserable who has no other hold on his children's affection than the need they have of his assistance, if that can be called affection.

Now there cannot be first principles for men, unless the Divinity has revealed them; all the rest--beginning, middle, and end--isnothing but dreams and smoke.

Let us a little permit nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.

A strong imagination begetteth opportunity.

I cruelly hate cruelty, both by nature and reason, as the worst of all the vices. But then I am so soft in this that I cannot seea chicken's neck wrung without distress, and cannot bear to hear the squealing of a hare between the teeth of my hounds.

It is only reasonable to allow the administration of affairs to mothers before their children reach the age prescribed by law at which they themselves can be responsible. But that father would have reared them ill who could not hope that in their maturity they would have more wisdom and competence than his wife.

When all is summed up, a man never speaks of himself without loss; his accusations of himself are always believed; his praises never.