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.

Distinction is an eminence that is attained but too frequently at the expense of a fireside.

To feel oppressed by obligation is only to prove that we are incapable of a proper sentiment of gratitude. To receive favors from the unworthy is simply to admit that our selfishness is superior to our pride. Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful for them. The proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.

No doubt solitude is wholesome, but so is abstinence after a surfeit. The true life of man is in society.

Not in sorrow freely is never to open the bosom to the sweets of the sunshine.

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.

Genius is the very eye of intellect and the wing of thought; it is always in advance of its time, and is the pioneer for the generation which it precedes.