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

Indulgence is lovely in the sinless; toleration, adorable in the pious and believing heart.

There are two ways of attaining an important end, force and perseverance; the silent power of the latter grows irresistible with time.

A friendship will be young after the lapse of half a century; a passion is old at the end of three months.

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.

Our faults afflict us more than our good deeds console. Pain is ever uppermost in the conscience as in the heart.

It would seem that by our sorrows only are we called to a knowledge of the Infinite. Are we happy? The limits of life constrain us on all sides.