It is not the quantity but the quality of knowledge which determines the mind's dignity.

Life is a fragment, a moment between two eternities.

The fewer the voices on the side of truth, the more distinct and strong must be your own.

There is but a very minute portion of the creation which we can turn into food and clothes, or gratification for the body; but the whole creation may be used to minister to the sense of beauty.

One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography.

The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.

Men are never very wise and select in the exercise of a new power.