In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal, and so ill-bred, as audible laughter.

Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough.

Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

A man of sense only trifles with them, plays with them, humors and flatters them, as he does with a sprightly and forward child; but he neither consults them about, nor trusts them with, serious matters.