No one knows where he who invented the plow was born, nor where he died; yet he has done more for humanity than the whole race of heroes who have drenched the earth with blood and whose deeds have been handed down with a precision proportionate only to the mischief they wrought.
It is not so difficult a task to plant new truths, as to root out old errors; for there is this paradox in men, they run after that which is new, but are prejudiced in favor of that which is old.
Philosophy is a goddess, whose head indeed is in heaven, but whose feet are upon earth; she attempts more than she accomplishes, and promises more than she performs.
Avarice has ruined more men than prodigality, and the blindest thoughtlessness of expenditure has not destroyed so many fortunes as the calculating but insatiable lust of accumulation.
When in reading we meet with any maxim that may be of use, we should take it for our own, and make an immediate application of it, as we would of the advice of a friend whom we have purposely consulted.
Afflictions sent by providence melt the constancy of the noble minded, but confirm the obduracy of the vile, as the same furnace that liquefies the gold, hardens the clay Charles Caleb Colton.
The good opinion of our fellow men is the strongest, though not the purest motive to virtue.
None of us are so much praised or censured as we think.
A house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them.
It is easier to pretend to be what you are not than to hide what you really are; but he that can accomplish both has little to learn in hypocrisy.
The victim to too severe a law is considered as a martyr rather than a criminal.
The science of legislation is like that of medicine in one respect: that it is far more easy to point out what will do harm than what will do good.
Falsehood is often rocked by truth, but she soon outgrows her cradle and discards her nurse.
The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are.
All poets pretend to write for immortality, but the whole tribe have no objection to present pay and present praise.
In order to try whether a vessel be leaky, we first prove it with water before we trust it with wine.
Most of our misfortunes are more supportable than the comments of our friends upon them.
Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a pretext for a thousand.
There are two modes of establishing our reputation; to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues.
It is seldom that statesmen have the option of choosing between a good and an evil.