If the Sunday had not been observed as a day of rest during the last three centuries, I have not the slightest doubt that we should have been at this moment a poorer people and less civilized.

The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.

Nothing is so useless as a general maxim.

In perseverance, in self command, in forethought, in all virtues which conduce to success in life, the Scots have never been surpassed.

With the dead there is no rivalry, with the dead there is no change.

Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps.

A vice sanctioned by the general opinion is merely a vice. The evil terminates in itself. A vice condemned by the general opinion produces a pernicious effect on the whole character. The former is a local malady; the latter, constitutional taint. When the reputation of the offender is lost, he too often flings the remainder of his virtue after it in despair.