“He that thinks he is the happiest man, really is so. But he that thinks he is the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.”
“Never join with your friend when he abuses his horse or his wife, unless the one is to be sold and the other to be buried.”
“Wealth after all is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more.”
“Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of tricks and duplicity than straight forward and simple integrity in another.”
“Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who. when alive, would not have contributed.”
“If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself; all that runs over will be yours.”
“Mystery magnifies danger, as a fog the sun, the hand that warned Belshazzar derived its horrifying effect from the want of a body.”
“Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores.”
“As no roads are so rough as those that have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints.”
“He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads.”
“Pedantry is the showy display of knowledge which crams our heads with learned lumber and then takes out our brains to make room for it.”
“It is with disease of the mind, as with those of the body; we are half dead before we understand our disorder, and half cured when we do.”
“The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world.”
“Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.”
“Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.”
“Love is an alliance of friendship and animalism; if the former predominates it is passion exalted and refined; if the latter, gross and sensual.”
“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.”
“Life isn't like a book. Life isn't logical or sensible or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time. And theology must be lived in the midst of that mess.”
“Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console.”
“Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meandering, but leads none of us by the same route”
“Opinions, like showers, are generated in high places, but they invariably descend into lower ones, and ultimately flow down to the people as rain unto the sea.”
“To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.”
“Physical courage, which engages all danger, will make a person brave in one way; and moral courage, which defies all opinion, will make a person brave in another.”
“It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck.”
“He that is good, will infallibly become better, and he that is bad, will as certainly become worse; for vice, virtue and time are three things that never stand still.”
“The drafts which true genius draws upon posterity, although they may not always be honored so soon as they are due, are sure to be paid with compound interest in the end.”
“To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it. The pains of power are real; its pleasures imaginary.”
“Justice to my readers compels me to admit that I write because I have nothing to do; justice to myself induces me to add that I will cease to write the moment I have nothing to say.”
“There is this difference between happiness and wisdom, that he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he who thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.”
“My lowest days as a Christian [and There Were Low Ones--Seven Months Worth Of Them In Prison, To Be Exact] have been more fulfilling and rewarding than all the days of glory in the White House.”