Truth is not exciting enough to those who depend on the characters and lives of their neighbors for all their amusement.

It [Calvinism] established a religion without a prelate, a government without a king.

If hours did not hang heavy, what would become of scandal?

Ennui is the desire of activity without the fit means of gratifying the desire.

Institutions may crumble and governments fall, but it is only that they may renew a better youth, and mount upwards like the eagle.

The charities of life are scattered everywhere, enameling the vales of human beings as the flowers paint the meadows. They are not the fruit of study, nor the privilege of refinement, but a natural instinct.

I find the name of Jesus Christ written on the top of every page of modern history.

Beauty is but the sensible image of the infinite. Like truth and justice, it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law, it is a companion of the soul.

By common consent, gray hairs are a crown of glory: the only object of respect that can never excite envy.

Libraries collect the works of genius of every language and every age.