Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.

Philosophers there are who try to make themselves believe that this life is happy; but they believe it only while they are saying it, and never yet produced conviction in a single mind.

Too much vigor in the beginning of an undertaking often intercepts and prevents the steadiness and perseverance always necessary in the conduct of a complicated scheme.

Repentance, however difficult to be practiced, is, if it be explained without superstition, easily understood. Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice from the conviction that it has offended God.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

We may have uneasy feelings for seeing a creature in distress without pity; for we have not pity unless we wish to relieve them.

The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion.