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Nothing but the right can ever be expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a great good to a less.

Richard Whately

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Richard Whately
Age: 76 †
Born: 1787
Born: February 1
Died: 1863
Died: October 8
Economist
Philosopher
Priest
Theologian
London
England
Ever
Nothing
Right
Expedient
Great
Expediency
Good
Sacrifice
Never
Since
Would
Less
True

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It is also important to guard against mistaking for good-nature what is properly good-humor,--a cheerful flow of spirits and easy temper not readily annoyed, which is compatible with great selfishness.
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He who is not aware of his ignorance will be only misled by his knowledge.
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An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads.
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It is quite possible, and not uncommon, to read most laboriously, even so as to get by heart the words of a book, without really studying it at all,--that is, without employing the thoughts on the subject.
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There is no right faith in believing what is true, unless we believe it because it is true.
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The happiest lot for a man, as far as birth is concerned, is that it should be such as to give him but little occasion to think much about it.
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Superstition is not, as has been defined, an excess of religious feeling, but a misdirection of it, an exhausting of it on vanities of man's devising.
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To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.
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Manners are one of the greatest engines of influence ever given to man.
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Even supposing there were some spiritual advantage in celibacy, it ought to be completely voluntary.
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When a man says he wants to work, what he means is that he wants wages.
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Eloquence is relative. One can no more pronounce on the eloquence of any composition than the wholesomeness of a medicine, without knowing for whom it is intended.
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The power of duly appreciating little things belongs to a great mind.
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Better too much form than too little.
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All gaming, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of another, involves a breach of the tenth commandment.
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As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the use of reason, but to supply its deficiencies.
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Though not always called upon to condemn ourselves, it is always safe to suspect ourselves.
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All frauds, like the wall daubed with untempered mortar ... always tend to the decay of what they are devised to support.
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Proverbs accordingly are somewhat analogous to those medical Formulas which, being in frequent use, are kept ready-made-up in the chemists’ shops, and which often save the framing of a distinct Prescription.
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In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed, we see most dimly the objects which are close around us.
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