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.

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

We honor revelation too highly to make it the antagonist of reason, or to believe that it calls us to renounce our highest powers.

Another powerful principle of our nature, which is the spring of war, is the passion for superiority, for triumph, for power. The human mind is aspiring, impatient of inferiority, and eager for preeminence and control.

A man might pass for insane who should see things as they are.

War will never yield but to the principles of universal justice and love, and these have no sure root but in the religion of Jesus Christ.

Life is a fragment, a moment between two eternities.