The pest of society is egotists.

The private life of one man shall be a more illustrious monarchy,--more formidable to its enemy, more sweet and serene in its influence to its friend, than any kingdom in history. For a man, rightly viewed, comprehendeth the particular natures of all men.

The worst of charity is that the lives you are asked to preserve are not worth preserving.

Self sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.

Spoons and skimmers you can be undistinguishably together; but vases and statues require each a pedestal for itself.

Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.

The hand that rounded Peter's dome, And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, Wrought in a sad sincerity; Himself from God he could not free; He builded better than he knew: The conscious stone to beauty grew.