Tact is one of the first of mental virtues, the absence of which is frequently fatal to the best of talents. Without denying that it is a talent of itself, it will suffice if we admit that it supplies the place of many talents.

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

Our possessions are wholly in our performances. He owns nothing to whom the world owes nothing.

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

It is a bird-flight of the soul, when the heart declares itself in song. The affections that clothe themselves with wings are passions that have been subdued to virtues.

Modesty is policy, no less than virtue.

Our cares are the mothers, not only of our charities And virtues, but of our best joys and most cheering and enduring pleasures.