There was a time when I believed in the persuadability of man, and had the mania of man-mending. Experience has taught me better. The ablest physician can do little in the great lazar-house of society. He acts the wisest part who retires from the contagion.

Little, indeed, does it concern us in this our mortal stage, to inquire whence the spirit hath come; but of what infinite concern is the consideration whither it is going. Surely such consideration demands the study of a life.

I do not cast my eyes away from my troubles. I pack them in as little compass as I can for myself, and never let them annoy others.

A stubborn mind conduces as little to wisdom or even to knowledge, as a stubborn temper to happiness