We seldom speak of what we have but often of what we lack.

Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.

Pride works from within; it is the direct appreciation of oneself.

Genuine contempt, on the other hand, is the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.

No one can transcend their own individuality.

Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up, which will of course happen frequently enough even to the best heads; but to banish your own thoughts so as to take up a book is a sin against the holy ghost; it is like deserting untrammeled nature to look at a herbarium or engravings of landscapes.

There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life.