This is the sphinx of the hearthstone, the little god of domesticity, whose presence turns a house into a home.

Conversation in its happiest development is a link, equally exquisite and adequate, between mind and mind, a system by which men approach one another with sympathy and enjoyment, a field for the finest amenities of civilization, for the keenest and most intelligent display of social activity. It is also our solace, our inspiration, and our most rational pleasure. It is a duty we owe to one another; it is our common debt to humanity.

Wit is artificial; humor is natural. Wit is accidental; humor is inevitable. Wit is born of conscious effort; humor, of the allotted ironies of fate. Wit can be expressed only in language; humor can be developed sufficiently in situation.

History is not written in the interests of morality.

Wit is a thing capable of proof.

Art... does not take kindly to facts, is helpless to grapple with theories, and is killed outright by a sermon.

To be brave in misfortune is to be worthy of manhood; to be wise in misfortune is to conquer fate.