“Riches do not constitute any claim to distinction. It is only the vulgar who admire riches as riches.”

The Romans rightly employed the same word (virtus) to designate courage, which is, in a physical sense, what the other is in a moral; the highest virtue of all being victory over ourselves.

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.

The most influential of all the virtues are those which are the most in request for daily use. They wear the best, and last the longest.

Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished.

The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.

No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.

Great men are always exceptional men; and greatness itself is but comparative. Indeed, the range of most men in life is so limited that very few have the opportunity of being great.

Those who have most to do, and are willing to work, will find the most time.

Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.

Good sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.

Great men stamp their mind upon their age and nation.

Woman, above all other educators, educates humanly. Man is the brain, but woman is the heart, of humanity.

Like men, nations are purified and strengthened by trials.

It is not ease, but effort-not facility, but difficulty, makes men. There is, perhaps, no station in life in which difficulties have not to be encountered and overcome before any decided measure of success can be achieved.

There is no act, however trivial, but has its train of consequences.

He will soon be claiming that the Resistance has liberated the world.

The more stupid and unlucky man is, the more claims he makes to the woman.

Liberals seem to assume that, if you don’t believe in their particular political solutions, then you don’t really care about the people that they claim to want to help.

Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent.

You might be locked in a world not of your own making, her eyes said, but you still have a claim on how it is shaped. You still have responsibilities.

Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.