The wise become as the unwise in the enchanted chambers of Power, whose lamps make every face the same colour.

Hope is the mother of faith.

Of all failures, to fail in a witticism is the worst, and the mishap is the more calamitous in a drawn-out and detailed one

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

Of all studies, the most delightful and the most useful is biography. The seeds of great events lie near the surface; historians delve too deep for them. No history was ever true. Lives I have read which, if they were not, had the appearance, the interest, and the utility of truth.

Children are what the mothers are.

We fancy we suffer from ingratitude, while in reality we suffer from self-love.