A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.

Cut off my head, and singular I am, Cut off my tail, and plural I appear; Although my middle's left, there's nothing there! What is my head cut off? A sounding sea; What is my tail cut off? A rushing river; And in their mingling depths I fearless play, Parent of sweetest sounds, yet mute forever.

He [Charles II] was utterly without ambition. He detested business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have undergone the trouble of really directing the administration.

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

Parent of sweetest sounds, yet mute forever.

We do not think it necessary to prove that a quack medicine is poison; let the vender prove it to be sanative.

Great minds do indeed react on the society which has made them what they are; but they only pay with interest what they have received.