We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit.

Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow.

Insults are engendered from vulgar minds, like toadstools from a dunghill.

Women do not transgress the bounds of decorum so often as men; but when they do, they go greater lengths.

That which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.

In all societies, it is advisable to associate if possible with the highest; not that the highest are always the best, but because, if disgusted there, we can descend at any time; but if we begin with the lowest, to ascend is impossible.

We often pretend to fear what we really despise, and more often despise what we really fear.