Expectation improperly indulged in must end in disappointment.

Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom

He that compares what he has done with what he has left undone, will feel the effect which must always follow the comparison of imagination with reality; he will look with contempt on his own unimportance, and wonder to what purpose he came into the world; he will repine that he shall leave behind him no evidence of his having been, that he has added nothing to the system of life, but has glided from youth to age among the crowd, without any effort for distinction.

We owe to memory not only the increase of our knowledge, and our progress in rational inquiries, but many other intellectual pleasures

It is astonishing that any man can forbear enquiring seriously whether there is a God; whether God is just; whether this life is the only state of existence.

Guilt once harbored in the conscious breast, intimidates the brave, degrades the great.

The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it.