A history in which every particular incident may be true may on the whole be false.

In the plays of Shakespeare man appears as he is, made up of a crowd of passions which contend for the mastery over him, and govern him in turn.

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.

In Plato's opinion, man was made for philosophy; in Bacon's opinion, philosophy was made for man.

Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity and affectation are the two greatest faults of style. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas; and the same wish to dazzle, at any cost, which produces affectation in the manner of a writer, is likely to produce sophistry in his reasonings.

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

We never could clearly understand how it is that egotism, so unpopular in conversation, should be so popular in writing.