Efficiency in an assembly requires a solid mass of steady votes; and these are collected by a deferential attachment to particular men, or by a belief in the principles that those men represent, and they are maintained by fear of those men - by the fear that if you vote against them, you may soon yourself have no vote at all.

Women--one half the human race at least--care fifty times more for a marriage than a ministry.

What we opprobriously call stupidity, though not an enlivening quality in common society, is nature's favorite resource for preserving steadiness of conduct and consistency of opinion.

A man's mother is his misfortune, but his wife is his fault.

A slight daily unconscious luxury is hardly ever wanting to the dwellers in civilization; like the gentle air of a genial climate, it is a perpetual minute enjoyment.

An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind.

The best security for people's doing their duty is that they should not know anything else to do.