Morality is the object of government.

The saint and poet seek privacy to ends the most public and universal: and it is the secret of culture, to interest the man more in his public, than in his private quality.

A deep man believes that the evil eye can whither, the heart's blessing can heal, and that love can overcome all odds.

Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.

Common sense is as rare as genius.

Eloquence must be grounded on the plainest narrative. Afterwards, it may warm itself until it exhales symbols of every kind and color, speaks only through the most poetic forms; but first and last, it must still be at bottom a biblical statement of fact.

Man's life is a progress, not a station.