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.

Man is never happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will make him so.

Freedom of the press is to the machinery of the state what the safety valve is to the steam engine.

(Politeness is) a tacit agreement that people's miserable defects, whether moral or intellectual, shall on either side be ignored and not be made the subject of reproach.

The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.

The ultimate foundation of honor is the conviction that moral character is unalterable: a single bad action implies that future actions of the same kind will, under similar circumstances, also be bad.

Truth is most beautiful undraped.