There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.

Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.

There are many that despise half the world; but if there be any that despise the whole of it, it is because the other half despises them.

A house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them.

Of all the faculties of the mind, memory is the first that flourishes, and the first that dies.

Heroism, self-denial, and magnanimity, in all instances where they do not spring from a principle of religion, are but splendid altars on which we sacrifice one kind of self-love to another.

In answering an opponent, arrange your ideas, but not your words.