He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason.
Thought is always troublesome to him who lives without his own approbation.
Presumption will be easily corrected; but timidity is a disease of the mind more obstinate and fatal.
A fallible being will fail somewhere.
A small country town is not the place in which one would choose to quarrel with a wife; every human being in such places is a spy.
Ancient travelers guessed; modern travelers measure.
He that would travel for the entertainment of others should remember that the great object of remark is human life.
Whoever shall review his life, will find that the whole tenor of his conduct has been determined by some accident of no apparent moment.
Liberty is the parent of truth, but truth and decency are sometimes at variance. All men and all propositions are to be treated here as they deserve, and there are many who have no claim either to respect or decency.
Truth allows no choice.
Truth has no gradations; nothing which admits of increase can be so much what it is, as truth is truth. There may be a strange thing, and a thing more strange. But if a proposition be true, there can be none more true.
Truth, such as is necessary to the reputation of life, is always found where it is honestly sought.
Never mind the use – do it!
The resolution of the combat is seldom equal to the vehemence of the charge.
The charm of London is that you are never glad or sorry for ten minutes together; in the country you are one or the other for weeks.
I doubt if there ever was a man who was not gratified by being told that he was liked by the women.
No man sympathizes with the sorrows of vanity.
We have always pretensions to fame which, in our own hearts, we know to be disputable.
A country gentleman should bring his lady to visit London as soon as he can, that they may have agreeable topicks for conversation when they are by themselves.
Political liberty is only good insofar as it produces private liberty.