A large family party is rather too much like a flight of tomtits; everlasting twitter, but no conversation; gregariousness without companionship.
The longer I live, the more deeply am I convinced that that which makes the difference between one person and another-between the weak and the powerful, the great and the insignificant-is energy-invisible determination.
Proverbs are potted wisdom.
To make pleasures pleasant shorten them.
Pounds are the sons, not of pounds, but of pence.
All movement, of every creature, comes from the desire after something better.
In one family, every little plan or question is discussed amid bickering and irritation. In another, without the least effort, every discussion goes on amid perfect peace. This is just as easy, and infinitely more agreeable: only, in many homes it does not happen to be the family habit.
You have not fulfilled every duty unless you have fulfilled that of being pleasant.
Success soon palls. The joyous time is when the breeze first strikes your sails, and the waters rustle under your bows.
Indulge in procrastination, and in time yon will come to this, that because a thing ought to be done, therefore you can’t do it.
In life, as in Chess, ones own Pawns block ones way. A mans very wealth, ease, leisure, children, books, which should help him to win, more often checkmate him.
In life, as in chess, forethought wins.
A man’s venom poisons himself more than his victims.
A successful career has been full of blunders.
You cannot win without sacrifice.
Sometimes success is due less to ability than to zeal.
I once met a man who had forgiven an injury. I hope some day to meet the man who has forgiven an insult.
Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter.
Self-laudation abounds among the unpolished, but nothing can stamp a man more sharply as ill-bred.
All high truth is poetry. Take the results of science: they glow with beauty, cold and hard as are the methods of reaching them.