The first rule for a good style is to have something to say; in fact, this in itself is almost enough.

No greater mistake can be made than to imagine that what has been written latest is always the more correct; that what is written later on is an improvement on what was written previously; and that every change means progress.

To be alone is the fate of all great minds—a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.

That the outer man is a picture of the inner, and the face an expression and revelation of the whole character, is a presumption likely enough in itself, and therefore a safe one to go on; borne out as it is by the fact that people are always anxious to see anyone who has made himself famous. Photography offers the most complete satisfaction of our curiosity.

Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.

In many cases hate a person is rooted in the involuntary estimate of its virtues.

Happiness of any given life is to be measured, not by its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to which it has been free from suffering-from positive evil.