Readers soon tire of prefaces, and skip them, and so the labor of writing them is lost.

Happiness is, in truth, a very cheap thing, when the heart will be contented to traffic with nature - art has quite a different price.

What in the rising man was industry and economy, becomes in the rich man parsimony and avarice.

Why is it that water, so monotonous in its characteristics, should nevertheless possess a charm for every mind? I believe it is chiefly because it bears the impress of the Creator, which we feel neither the power of time or of man can efface or alter.

self-control, in every station and to every individual, is indispensable, if people would retain that equanimity of mind, which, depending on self-respect, is the essential of contentment and happiness.

There is no influence so powerful as that of the mother, but next in rank in efficacy is that of the schoolmaster.

Riches are always over estimated; the enjoyment they give is more in the pursuit than the possession.