As civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines.

No man in the world acts up to his own standard of right.

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

Temple was a man of the world amongst men of letters, a man of letters amongst men of the world.

Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps.

Ye diners out from whom we guard our spoons.

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.