While selfishness joins hands with no one of the virtues, benevolence is allied to them all.

Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes.

Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.

Popular glory is a perfect coquette; her lovers must toil, feel every inquietude, indulge every caprice, and perhaps at last be jilted into the bargain. True glory, on the other hand, resembles a woman of sense; her admirers must play no tricks. They feel no great anxiety, for they are sure in the end of being rewarded in proportion to their merit.

There is yet a silent agony in which the mind appears to disdain all external help, and broods over its distresses with gloomy reserve. This is the most dangerous state of mind; accidents or friendships may lessen the louder kinds of grief, but all remedies for this must be had from within, and there despair too often finds the most deadly enemy.

Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.

The world is like a vast sea: mankind like a vessel sailing on its tempestuous bosom. ... [T]he sciences serve us for oars.