Accuracy of statement is one of the first elements of truth; inaccuracy is a near kin to falsehood.
Facts are God's arguments; we should be careful never to misunderstand or pervert them.
Some men are born old, and some men never seem so. If we keep well and cheerful, we are always young and at last die in youth even when in years would count as old.
Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow up.
High aims form high characters, and great objects bring out great minds.
To rule one's anger is well; to prevent it is better.
Anxiety is the poison of human life; the parent of many sins and of more miseries. In a world where everything is doubtful, and where we may be disappointed, and be blessed in disappointment, why this restless stir and commotion of mind? Can it alter the cause, or unravel the mystery of human events?
We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.
Never be so brief as to become obscure.
Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.
Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another -- too often ending in the loss of both.
To rejoice in another's prosperity is to give content to your lot; to mitigate another's grief is to alleviate or dispel your own.
Credulity is belief in slight evidence, with no evidence, or against evidence.
Most of our censure of others is only oblique praise of self, uttered to show the wisdom and superiority of the speaker. It has all the invidiousness of self-praise, and all the ill-desert of falsehood.
Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.
Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to full establishment of the truth.
To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully.
Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and inconsistent with it. But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws -- a thing which can never be demonstrated.
Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.
What we gave, we have; What we spent, we had; What we left, we lost.
Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steady gains in strength, At first it may be but as a spider's web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.
Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered in grains, and enjoyed every day. It will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor have we got to go out of ourselves or into remote places to gather it, since it has rained down from a Heaven, at our very door
He that never changes his opinion never corrects mistakes and will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today.
Sinful and forbidden pleasures are like poisoned bread; they may satisfy appetite for the moment, but there is death in them at the end.
People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher or better than themselves.