Honesty is the best policy; but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.

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

Nothing but the right can ever be expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a great good to a less.

Manners are one of the greatest engines of influence ever given to man.

Habits are formed, not at one stroke, but gradually and insensibly; so that, unless vigilant care be employed, a great change may come over the character without our being conscious of any.

It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them; but on the contrary, men have dived for them because they fetch a high price.

Some persons follow the dictates of their conscience only in the same sense in which a coachman may be said to follow the horses he is driving.