I like people to be saints; but I want them to be first and superlatively honest men.

Providence has hidden a charm in difficult undertakings, which is appreciated only by those who dare to grapple with them.

The injustice of men subserves the justice of God, and often His mercy.

There are minds constructed like the eyes of certain insects, which discern, with admirable distinctness, the most delicate lineaments and finest veins of the leaf which bears them, but are totally unable to take in the ensemble of the plant or shrub. When error has effected an entrance into such minds, it remains there impregnable, because no general view assists them in throwing off the chance impression of the moment.

We are all of us, in this world, more or less like St. January, whom the inhabitants of Naples worship one day, and pelt with baked apples the next.

We are rich only through what we give.

Strength alone knows conflict, weakness is born vanquished.