I have all my life long been lying in bed till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.

Indolence is the devil's cushion.

No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.

Few men survey themselves with so much severity as not to admit prejudices in their own favour, which an artful flatterer may gradually strengthen, till wishes for a particular qualification are improved to hopes of attainment, and hopes of attainment to belief of possession.

Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.

To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which one of the Fathers observes to be not a virtue, but the groundwork of virtue.

Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.