Extemporaneous and oral harangues will always have this advantage over those that are read from a in manuscript: every burst of eloquence or spark of genius they may contain, however studied they may have been beforehand, will appear to the audience to be the effect of the sudden inspiration of talent.

He that sympathizes in all the happiness of others, perhaps himself enjoys the safest happiness.

The present time has one advantage over every other -- it is our own.

He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads.

Many books owe their success to the good memories of their authors and the bad memories of their readers.

If you cannot avoid a quarrel with a blackguard, let your lawyer manage it, rather than yourself. No man sweeps his own chimney, but employs a chimney-sweeper, who has no objection to dirty work, because it is his trade.

We must be careful how we flatter fools too little, or wise men too much, for the flatterer must act the very reverse of the physician, and administer the strongest dose only to the weakest patient.