Reason can no more influence the will, and operate as a motive, than the eyes which show a man his road can enable him to move from place to place, or that a ship provided with a compass can sail without a wind.

The censure of frequent and long parentheses has led writers into the preposterous expedient of leaving out the marks by which they are indicated. It is no cure to a lame man to take away his crutches.

A certain class of novels may with propriety be called fables.

It is one thing to wish to have truth on our side, and another to wish sincerely to be on the side of truth.

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

The depreciation of Christianity by indifference is a more insidious and less curable evil than infidelity itself.

Vices and frailties correct each other, like acids and alkalies. If each vicious man had but one vice, I do not know how the world could go on.