A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil that good may come of it. We are too ready to retaliate, rather than forgive, or gain by love and information. And yet we could hurt no man that we believe loves us. Let us, then, try what love will do: for if men do once see that we love them, we should soon find they would not harm us. Force may subdue, but love gains; and he that forgives first, wins the laurel.

Five things are requisite to a good officer — ability, clean hands, despatch, patience, and impartiality.

For nothing reaches the heart but what is from the heart, or pierces the conscience but what comes from a living conscience

Excess in apparel is another costly folly. The very trimming of the vain world would clothe all the naked ones.

The only fountain in the wilderness of life, where man drinks of water totally unmixed with bitterness, is that which gushes for him in the calm and shady recess of domestic life.

We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that.

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it. No man is compelled to evil: his consent only makes it his. It is no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.