We judge of others for the most part by their good opinion of themselves; yet nothing gives such offense or creates so many enemies, as that extreme self-complacency or superciliousness of manner, which appears to set the opinion of every one else at defiance.
Love may turn to indifference with possession.
Pride erects a little kingdom of its own, and acts as sovereign in it.
A man in love prefers his passion to every other consideration, and is fonder of his mistress than he is of virtue. Should she prove vicious, she makes vice lovely in his eyes.
Pride goes before a fall, they say, And yet we often find, The folks who throw all pride away Most often fall behind.
Men will die for an opinion as soon as for anything else.
Vanity does not refer to the opinion a man entertains of himself, but to that which he wishes others to entertain of him.
Those who object to wit are envious of it.
Wit is the rarest quality to be met with among people of education, and the most common among the uneducated.
Death puts an end to rivalship and competition. The dead can boast no advantage over us, nor can we triumph over them.
Cowardice is not synonymous with prudence. It often happens that the better part of discretion is valor.
Silence is one great art of conversation. He is not a fool who knows when to hold his tongue; and a person may gain credit for sense, eloquence, wit, who merely says nothing to lessen the opinion which others have of these qualities in themselves.
Repose is as necessary in conversation as in a picture.
There is something captivating in spirit and intrepidity, to which, we often yield as to a resistless power; nor can he reasonably expect, the confidence of others who too apparently distrusts himself.
The mind revolts against certain opinions, as the stomach rejects certain foods.
Vice is man’s nature: virtue is a habit – or a mask.
Wit is, in fact, the eloquence of indifference.
One said a tooth drawer was a kind of unconscionable trade, because his trade was nothing else but to take away those things whereby every man gets his living.
Those only deserve a monument who do not need one; that is, who have raised themselves a monument in the minds and memories of men.
A mighty stream of tendency.