Virtue is not to be considered in the light of mere innocence, or abstaining from harm; but as the exertion of our faculties in doing good.

The tongue may be employed about, and made to serve all the purposes of vice, in tempting and deceiving, in perjury and injustice.

Pain and sorrow and misery have a right to our assistance: compassion puts us in mind of the debt, and that we owe it to ourselves as well as to the distressed.

Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be: why then should we desire to be deceived?

Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food

But to us, probability is the very guide of life.

Happiness or satisfaction consists only in the enjoyment of those objects which are by nature suited to our several particular appetites, passions, and affections.

Every man is to be considered in two capacities, the private and public; as designed to pursue his own interest, and likewise to contribute to the good of others.

Love of our neighbour, then, has just the same respect to, is no more distant from, self-love, than hatred of our neighbour, or than love or hatred of anything else.

As this world was not intended to be a state of any great satisfaction or high enjoyment, so neither was it intended to be a mere scene of unhappiness and sorrow.

Happiness does not consist in self-love.

No, it’s fine. I know you’re late. Maybe we can talk tomorrow, but I’m going to be in and out all day.”“That’s what he said, ” she purred.

There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence.

Contemplating Christmas when you are isolated and far from home brings its own unique pain.

I suppose I had always been an unconscious suffragist. With my temperament and my surroundings, I could scarcely have been otherwise.

Mutual respect and mutual listening are the foundations of harmony within the family.

Logic taken to an extreme would always equal chaos.

When had Eden grown up? I feel like I blinked and missed it.

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.

Fences and walls can be effective and even soothing, at least for those who build them.