Lectures were once useful; but now when all can read, and books are so numerous, lectures are unnecessary.

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

It is not true that people are naturally equal for no two people can be together for even a half an hour without one acquiring an evident superiority over the other.

Life is but short; no time can be afforded but for the indulgence of real sorry, or contests upon questions seriously momentous. Let us not throw away any of our days upon useless resentment, or contend who shall hold out longest in stubborn malignity. It is best not to be angry; and best, in the next place, to be quickly reconciled.

Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.

For sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have lost or changed their existence; it requires what it cannot hope, that the laws of the universe should be repealed; that the dead should return, or the past should be recalled.

We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.