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

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.

The only true source of politeness is consideration.

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

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

He who would acquire fame must not show himself afraid of censure. The dread of censure is the death of genius.

Ambition is frequently the only refuge which life has left to the denied or mortified affections. We chide at the grasping eye, the daring wing, the soul that seems to thirst for sovereignty only, and know not that the flight of this ambitious bird has been from a bosom or home that is filled with ashes.