I would rather produce my passions than brood over them at my expense; they grow languid when they have vent and expression. It is better that their point should operate outwardly than be turned against us.

A speech belongs half to the speaker and half to the listener.

Glory and repose are things that cannot possibly inhabit in one and the same place.

Whatever is enforced by command is more imputed to him who exacts than to him who performs.

There is a certain amount of purpose, acquiescence, and satisfaction in nursing one's melancholy.

To say less of yourself than is true is stupidity, not modesty. To pay yourself less than you are worth is cowardice and pusillanimity.

I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Each man bears the entire form of man's estate.