God Himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until his life is over. Why should you and I?

The mind is seldom quickened to very vigorous operations but by pain, or the dread of pain. We do not disturb ourselves with the detection of fallacies which do us no harm.

No man is defeated without some resentment which will be continued with obstinacy while he believes himself in the right, and asserted with bitterness, if even to his own conscience he is detected in the wrong.

Men who cannot deceive others are very often successful at deceiving themselves.

No, Sir, you will have much more influence by giving or lending money where it is wanted, than by hospitality.

Surely nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependence on the weather and the wind, for the only blessings which nature has put into our power, tranquillity and benevolence. To look up to the sky for the nutriment of our bodies, is the condition of nature; to call upon the sun for peace and gaiety, or deprecate the clouds lest sorrow should overwhelm us, is the cowardice of idleness, and the idolatry of folly.

Irresolution and mutability are often the faults of men whose views are wide, and whose imagination is vigorous and excursive.