Innocent amusements are such as excite moderately, and such as produce a cheerful frame of mind, not boisterous mirth; such as refresh, instead of exhausting, the system; such as recur frequently, rather than continue long; such as send us back to our daily duties invigorated in body and spirit; such as we can partake of in the presence and society of respectable friends; such as consist with and are favorable to a grateful piety; such as are chastened by self-respect, and are accompanied with the consciousness that life has a higher end than to be amused.

Influence is to be measured, not by the extent of surface it covers, but by its kind.

No punishment is so terrible as prosperous guilt.

The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could hardly be propagated.

God be thanked for books; they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.

Every human being is intended to have a character of his own; to be what no others are, and to do what no other can do.

Faith is love taking the form of aspiration.