Learning is the knowledge of that which none but the learned know.

Genius only leaves behind it the monuments of its strength.

The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.

When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.

Some people break promises for the pleasure of breaking them.

A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.