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.

No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation.

Every banker knows that if he has to prove that he is worthy of credit, however good may be his arguments, in fact his credit is gone: but what we have requires no proof.

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Progress would not have been the rarity it is if the early food had not been the late poison.

Adventure is the life of commerce, but caution is the life of banking.

An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.