Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom; youth is the season of credulity.

More from William Pitt

• If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms, never! never! never!
• I love the Americans because they love liberty, and I love them for the noble efforts they made in the last war.
• There is something behind the throne greater than the King himself.
• Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins.