Solitude bears the same relation to the mind that sleep does to the body. It affords it the necessary opportunities for repose and recovery.

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

The only true source of politeness is consideration.

The wonder is not that the world is so easily governed, but that so small a number of persons will suffice for the purpose. There are dead weights in political and legislative bodies as in clocks, and hundreds answer as pulleys who would never do for politicians.

Modesty is policy, no less than virtue.

The effect of character is always to command consideration. We sport and toy and laugh with men or women who have none, but we never confide in them.

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.