"I look upon parliamentary government as the noblest government in the world, and certainly one most suited to England. But without the discipline of political connection, animated by the principle of private honor, I feel certain that a popular assembly would sink before the power or the corruption of a minister."
"Our domestic affections are the most salutary basis of all good government."
"Little things affect little minds."
"And it is a singular truth that, though a man may shake off national habits, accent, manner of thinking, style of dress, though he may become perfectly identified with another nation, and speak its language well, perhaps better than his own, — yet never can he succeed in changing his handwriting to a foreign style."
"What we call the heart is a nervous sensation, like shyness, which gradually disappears in society. It is fervent in the nursery, strong in the domestic circle, tumultuous at school."
"You must originate, and you must sympathize; you must possess, at the same time, the habit of communicating and the habit of listening. The union is rather rare, but irresistible."
"There is no diplomacy like silence."
"To a mother, a child is everything; but to a child, a parent is only a link in the chain of her existence."
"Patriotism depends as much on mutual suffering as on mutual success; and it is by that experience of all fortunes and all feelings that a great national character is created."
"Solitude is the nurse of enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is the true parent of genius. In all ages solitude has been called for, has been flown to."
"The girl of the period sets up to be natural, and is only rude; mistakes insolence for innocence; says everything that comes first to her lips, and thinks she is gay when she is only giddy."
"It is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption, although they may be very convenient for gratifying the ambition or the vanity of individuals, have any great effect upon the fortunes or the power of parties. And it is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption are means by which power can either be obtained or retained."
"It is the lot of man to suffer; it is also his fortune to forget. Oblivion and sorrow share our being, as darkness and light divide the course of time."
"A great city whose image dwells on the memory of man is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; faith hovers over Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world-art."
"I have a great confidence in the revelations which holidays bring forth."
"Be thine own privy counsellor."
"The Continent will not suffer England to be the workshop of the world."
"Mediocrity can talk; but it is for genius to observe."
"Destiny bears us to our lot, and destiny is perhaps our own will."
"Assassination has never changed the history of the world."
"It is easier to be critical than correct."
"A female friend, amiable, clever, and devoted, is a possession more valuable than parks and palaces; and without such a muse, few men can succeed in life, none be contented."
"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
"A nation, as an individual, has duties to fulfill appointed by God and His moral law."
"Extreme views are never just; something always turns up which disturbs the calculations formed upon their data."