Even the law of gravitation would be brought into dispute were there a pecuniary interest involved.

A perfect historian must possess an imagination sufficiently powerful to make his narrative affecting and picturesque; yet he must control it so absolutely as to content himself with the materials which he finds, and to refrain from supplying deficiencies by additions of his own. He must be a profound and ingenious reasoner; yet he must possess sufficient self-command to abstain from casting his facts in the mould of his hypothesis.

Our judgment ripens; our imagination decays. We cannot at once enjoy the flowers of the Spring of life and the fruits of its Autumn.

Our estimate of a character always depends much on the manner in which that character affects our own interests and passions.

The English doctrine that all power is a trust for the public good.

The conformation of his mind was such that whatever was little seemed to him great, and whatever was great seemed to him little.

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?