Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

We own almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.

When we fail our pride supports us and when we succeed, it betrays us.

To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it; for when we fail, our pride supports; when we succeed; it betrays us.

Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end.

Bigotry murders religion to frighten fools with her ghost.

Deliberate with caution, but act with decision; and yield with graciousness or oppose with firmness.

He that will believe only what he can fully comprehend must have a long head or a very short creed.

Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who. when alive, would not have contributed.

To look back to antiquity is one thing, to go back to it is another.