The amiable is a duty most certainly, but must not be exercised at the expense of any of the virtues. He who seeks to do the amiable always, can only be successful at the frequent expense of his manhood.

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.

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.

There is a native baseness in the ambition which seeks beyond its desert, that never shows more conspicuously than when, no matter how, it temporarily gains its object.

Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful; the proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.

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.