Ambition is frequently the only refuge which life has left to the denied or mortified affections. We chide at the grasping eye, the daring wing, the soul that seems to thirst for sovereignty only, and know not that the flight of this ambitious bird has been from a bosom or home that is filled with ashes.

He who would acquire fame must not show himself afraid of censure. The dread of censure is the death of genius.

There is no doubt such a thing as chance, but I see no reason why Providence should not make use of it.

It should console us for the fact that sin has not totally disappeared from the world, that the saints are not wholly deprived of employment.

Vanity is so constantly solicitous of self, that even where its own claims are not interested, it indirectly seeks the aliment which it loves, by showing how little is deserved by others.

The fool is willing to pay for anything but wisdom. No man buys that of which he supposes himself to have an abundance already.

To make punishments efficacious, two things are necessary. They must never be disproportioned to the offence, and they must be certain.