Ambition does not see the earth she treads on: The rock and the herbage are of one substance to her.

Even the weakest disputant is made so conceited by what he calls religion, as to think himself wiser than the wisest who thinks differently from him.

The happiest of pillows is not that which love first presses! it is that which death has frowned on and passed over.

Great men lose somewhat of their greatness by being near us; ordinary men gain much.

He who brings ridicule to bear against truth finds in his hand a blade without a hilt. The most sparkling and pointed flame of wit flickers and expires against the incombustible walls of her sanctuary.

Every sect is a moral check on its neighbour. Competition is as wholesome in religion as in commerce.

Prose on certain occasions can bear a great deal of poetry; on the other hand, poetry sinks and swoons under a moderate weight of prose.