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

To build is to be robbed.

In all pointed sentences, some degree of accuracy must be sacrificed to conciseness.

Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any degree; only about as much as is used in the lowest kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and coloring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary.

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.

It was the maxim, I think, of Alphonsus of Aragon, that dead counsellors are safest. The grave puts an end to flattery and artifice, and the information we receive from books is pure from interest, fear, and ambition. Dead counsellors are likewise most instructive, because they are heard with patience and with reverence.

That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.