The law is a great thing,--because men are poor and weak, and bad. And it is great, because where it exists in its strength, no tyrant can be above it. But between you and me there should be no mention of law as the guide of conduct. Speak to me of honour, and of duty, and of nobility; and tell me what they require of you.

The habit of reading is the only one I know in which there is no alloy. It lasts when all other pleasures fade.

On board ship there are many sources of joy of which the land knows nothing. You may flirt and dance at sixty; and if you are awkward in the turn of a valse, you may put it down to the motion of the ship. You need wear no gloves, and may drink your soda-and-brandy without being ashamed of it.

If a cook can't make soup between two and seven, she can't make it in a week.

And though it is much to be a nobleman, it is more to be a gentleman.

Passionate love, I take it, rarely lasts long, and is very troublesome while it does last. Mutual esteem is very much more valuable.

He was one of those men who, as in youth they are never very young, so in age are they never very old.