To a resolute mind, wishing to do is the first step toward doing. But if we do not wish to do a thing it becomes impossible.
Were there but one virtuous man in the world, he would hold up his head with confidence and honor; he would shame the world, and not the world him.
Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.
A good inclination is but the first rude draught of virtue, but the finishing strokes are from the will, which, if well disposed, will by degrees perfect it, as if all disposed will quickly deface it.
The Scripture vouches Solomon for the wisest of men; and his proverbs prove him so, The seven wise men of Greece, so famous for their wisdom all the world over, acquired all that fame each of them by a single sentence, consisting of two or three words.