More sinners are cursed at not because we despise their sins but because we envy their success at sinning.

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

To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.

A dominant religion is never ascetic.

It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.

He who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to be a great poet, must first become a little child.

If ever Shakespeare rants, it is not when his imagination is hurrying him along, but when he is hurrying his imagination along.