Scarcely any degree of judgment is sufficient to restrain the imagination from magnifying that on which it is long detained

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.

To expect that the intricacies of science will be pierced by a careless glance, or the eminences of fame ascended without labour, is to expect a peculiar privilege, a power denied to the rest of mankind; but to suppose that the maze is inscrutable to diligence, or the heights inaccessible to perseverance, is to submit tamely to the tyranny of fancy, and enchain the mind in voluntary shackles.

Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.

The heroes of literary history have been no less remarkable for what they have suffered than for what they have achieved.

Little would be wanting to the happiness of life, if every man could conform to the right as soon as he was shown it.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.