We uniformly applaud what is right and condemn what is wrong, when it costs us nothing but the sentiment.

There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot force it any more than love.

To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.

If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will -the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.

The idea of what the public will think prevents the public from ever thinking at all, and acts as a spell on the exercise of private judgment.

We learn to curb our will and keep our overt actions within the bounds of humanity, long before we can subdue our sentiments and imaginations to the same mild tone.

There is no flattery so adroit or effectual as that of implicit assent.