In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best. In matters of prudence, last thoughts are best.

A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity.

Rising health care spending occurs because it is beneficial, not a burden on the economy.

Of all the species of literary composition, perhaps biography is the most delightful. The attention concentrated on one individual gives a unity to the materials of which it is composed, which is wanting in general history.

In the power of fixing the attention lies the most precious of the intellectual habits.