I study much, and the more I study, the oftener I go back to those first principles which are so simple that childhood itself can lisp them.

Faith, amid the disorders of a sinful life, is like the lamp burning in an ancient tomb.

A good, finished scandal, fully armed and equipped, such as circulates in the world, is rarely the production of a single individual, or even of a single coterie. It sees the light in one; is rocked and nurtured in another; is petted, developed, and attains its growth in a third; and receives its finishing touches only after passing through a multitude of hands. It is a child that can count a host of fathers--all ready to disown it.

Consolation heaps without contact; somewhat like the blessed air which we need but to breathe.

When any one tells you that he belongs to no party, you may at any rate be sure that he does not belong to yours.

He who has never denied himself for the sake of giving has but glanced at the joys of charity.

Truth only is prolific. Error, sterile in itself, produces only by means of the portion of truth which it contains. It may have offspring, but the life which it gives, like that of the hybrid races, cannot be transmitted.