The statesman， who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals， would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention but assume an authority which could safely be trusted， not only to no single person， but to no council or senate whatever， and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.

"In the silence of a scene, the truth of the character speaks the loudest."

The footsteps of Nature are to be traced, not only in her ordinary course, but when she deviates from it in her most extravagant excursions.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.