It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.
A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.