A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.
The book-worm wraps himself up in his web of verbal generalities, and sees only the glimmering shadows of things reflected from the minds of others.
A man who is determined never to move out of the beaten road cannot lose his way.
A person who talks with equal vivacity on every subject, excites no interest in any. Repose is as necessary in conversation as in a picture.
We often forget our dreams so speedily: if we cannot catch them as they are passing out at the door, we never set eyes on them again.
The last pleasure in life is the sense of discharging our duty.
The difference between the vanity of a Frenchman and an Englishman seems to be this: the one thinks everything right that is French, the other thinks everything wrong that is not English.
Envy is littleness of soul.
We talk little when we do not talk about ourselves.
If mankind had wished for what is right, they might have had it long ago.
The slaves of power mind the cause they have to serve, because their own interest is concerned; but the friends of liberty always sacrifice their cause, which is only the cause of humanity, to their own spleen, vanity, and self-opinion.
As we advance in life, we acquire a keener sense of the value of time. Nothing else, indeed, seems of any consequence; and we become misers in this respect.
There is nothing more to be esteemed than a manly firmness and decision of character.
There is an unseemly exposure of the mind, as well as of the body.
I do not think there is anything deserving the name of society to be found out of London.
Art must anchor in nature, or it is the sport of every breath of folly.
Believe all the good you can of everyone. Do not measure others by yourself. If they have advantages which you have not, let your liberality keep pace with their good fortune. Envy no one, and you need envy no one.
Of all eloquence a nickname is the most concise; of all arguments the most unanswerable.
The confession of our failings is a thankless office. It savors less of sincerity or modesty than of ostentation. It seems as if we thought our weaknesses as good as other people’s virtues.
Our friends are generally ready to do everything for us, except the very thing we wish them to do.