Go boldly forth, my simple lay,Whose accents flow with artless ease,Like orient pearls at random strung.

I am no Hindu, but I hold the doctrine of the Hindus concerning a future state (rebirth) to be incomparably more rational, more pious, and more likely to deter men from vice than the horrid opinions inculcated by Christians on punishments without end.

Cruelty to dumb animals is one of the distinguishing vices of low and base minds. Wherever it is found, it is a certain mark of ignorance and meanness; a mark which all the external advantages of wealth, splendour, and nobility, cannot obliterate. It is consistent neither with learning nor true civility.

Live as if you already are what you wish to become.

The only road to the highest stations in this country is that of the law.

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,Whose accents flow with artless ease,Like orient pearls at random strung.

[I]n every part of this eastern world, from Pekin to Damascus, the popular teachers of moral wisdom have immemorially been poets.