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

The world is to be carried forward by truth, which at first offends, which wins its way by degrees, which the many hate and would rejoice to crush.

War is to be ranked among the most dreadful calamities which fall on a guilty world; and, what deserves consideration, it tends to multiply and perpetuate itself without end. It feeds and grows on the blood which it sheds. The passions, from which it springs, gain strength and fury from indulgence.

Mistakes and errors are the discipline through which we advance.

What a sublime doctrine it is, that goodness cherished now is eternal life already entered on!

It is chiefly through books that we enjoy the intercourse with superior minds.

To extinguish the free will is to strike the conscience with death, for both have but one and the same life.