The best political economy is the care and culture of men; for, in these crises, all are ruined except such as are proper individuals, capable of thought, and of new choice and the application of their talent to new labor.

For a great nature, it is a happiness to escape a religious training; religion of character is so apt to be invaded.

When we see a soul whose acts are all regal, graceful, and pleasant as roses, we must thank God that such things can be and are.

Hume's doctrine was that the circumstances vary, the amount of happiness does not; that the beggar cracking fleas in the sunshine under a hedge, and the duke rolling by in his chariot, the girl equipped for her first ball, and the orator returning triumphant from the debate, had different means, but the same quantity of pleasant excitement.

The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks.

As picture teaches the colouring, so sculpture the anatomy of form.

I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.