The happiest lot for a man, as far as birth is concerned, is that it should be such as to give him but little occasion to think much about it.

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

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.

Men are like sheep, of which a flock is more easily driven than a single one.

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

Controversy, though always an evil in itself, is sometimes a necessary evil.

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