Authors may be divided into falling stars, planets, and fixed stars: the first have a momentary effect; the second have a much longer duration; but the third are unchangeable, possess their own light, and work for all time.

No doubt, when modesty was made a virtue, it was a very advantageous thing for the fools, for everybody is expected to speak of himself as if he were one.

There is one respect in which beasts show real wisdom... their quiet, placid enjoyment of the present moment.

...this our world, which is so real, with all its suns and milky ways is-nothing.

Man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters, and yet go wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will comes in and deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take counsel of a friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he falls ill, he sends for a colleague.

Hatred is an affair of the heart; contempt that of the head.

To feel envy is human, to savour schadenfreude is devilish