Better that we should err in action than wholly refuse to perform. The storm is so much better than the calm, as it declares the presence of a living principle. Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption also.

Tears are the natural penalties of pleasure. It is a law that we should pay for all that we enjoy.

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.

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

But for that blindness which is inseparable from malice, what terrible powers of evil would it possess! Fortunately for the world, its venom, like that of the rattlesnake, when most poisonous, clouds the eye of the reptile, and defeats its aim.

Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption, also.