We know when we have had enough of a friend, and we know when a friend has had enough of us. The first truth is no more palatable than the second.

Guests are the delight of leisure, and the solace of ennui.

History is, and has always been trameled by facts. It may ignore some and deny others; but it cannot accommodate itself unreservedly to theories; it cannot be stripped of things evidenced in favor of things surmised.

In the stress of modern life, how little room is left for that most comfortable vanity that whispers in our ears that failures are not faults! Now we are taught from infancy that we must rise or fall upon our own merits; that vigilance wins success, and incapacity means ruin

The clear-sighted do not rule the world, but they sustain and console it.

Science may carry us to Mars, but it will leave the earth peopled as ever by the inept.

There are people who balk at small civilities on account of their manifest insincerity. ... It is better and more logical to accept all the polite phraseology which facilitates intercourse, and contributes to the sweetness of life. If we discarded the formal falsehoods which are the currency of conversation, we should not be one step nearer the vital things of truth.