Fear of the future is worse than one’s present fortune.
It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
For it would have been better that man should have been born dumb, nay, void of all reason, rather than that he should employ the gifts of Providence to the destruction of his neighbor.
Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be.
Though ambition itself be a vice, yet it is often times the cause of virtues.
For the mind is all the easier to teach before it is set.
Without natural gifts technical rules are useless.
Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly.
To my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.
Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.
To swear, except when necessary, is becoming to an honorable man.
God, that all-powerful Creator of nature and architect of the world, has impressed man with no character so proper to distinguish him from other animals, as by the faculty of speech.
Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite.
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake.
He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.
That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.
A laugh, if purchased at the expense of propriety, costs too much.
We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.
In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
The gifts of nature are infinite in their variety, and mind differs from mind almost as much as body from body.
A liar should have a good memory.
We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.
It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory.
The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is moulded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.
As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.
When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
It is much easier to try one’s hand at many things than to concentrate one’s powers on one thing.
The perfection of art is to conceal art.
Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will derive no more profit from this work than barren soil from a treatise on agriculture.
When we cannot hope to win, it is an advantage to yield.
It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.
The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.
Where evil habits are once settled, they are more easily broken than mended.
It is worth while too to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a boy’s mind from effort.
The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery.
While we are examining into everything we sometimes find truth where we least expected it.
