It is an awful, an appalling thought, that we may be, this moment and every moment, in the presence of malignant spirits.

As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the use of reason, but to supply its deficiencies.

The relief that is afforded to mere want, as want, tends to increase that want.

Of all hostile feelings, envy is perhaps the hardest to be subdued, because hardly any one owns it even to himself, but looks out for one pretext after another to justify his hostility.

Everyone wishes to have truth on his side, but not everyone wishes to be on the side of truth.

Even supposing there were some spiritual advantage in celibacy, it ought to be completely voluntary.

The more secure we feel against our liability to any error to which, in fact, we are liable, the greater must be our danger of falling into it.