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

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.

It is worth noticing that those who assume an imposing demeanor and seek to pass themselves off for something beyond what they are, are not unfrequently as much underrated by some as overrated by others.

Of metaphors, those generally conduce most to energy or vivacity of style which illustrate an intellectual by a sensible object.

In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed, we see most dimly the objects which are close around us.

To follow imperfect, uncertain, or corrupted traditions, in order to avoid erring in our own judgment, is but to exchange one danger for another.

It may be said, almost without qualification, that true wisdom consists in the ready and accurate perception of analogies. Without the former quality, knowledge of the past is unobstructive: without the latter it is deceptive.