“The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they are capable.”

“It is not true that men never change; they change for the worse, as well as for the better. It is not true they are ungrateful; more often the benefactor rates his favors higher than their worth; and often too he does not allow for circumstances. If few men have the moral force to resist impulses, most men do carry within themselves the germs of virtues as well as of vices, of heroism as well as of cowardice. Such is human nature — education and circumstances do the rest.”

“As a rule it is circumstances that make men.”

“Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.”

“Men are Moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.”

“Great men are meteors designed to burn so that earth may be lighted.”

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.”