The policy that can strike only while the iron is hot will be overcome by that perseverance, which ... can make that iron hot by striking and he that can only rule the storm must yield to him who can both raise and rule it.

Some are cursed with the fullness of satiety; and how can they bear the ills of life when its very pleasures fatigue them?

The three great apostles of practical atheism, that make converts without persecuting, and retain them without preaching, are wealth, health and power.

It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge.

Criticism is like champagne, nothing more execrable if bad, nothing more excellent if good; if meagre, muddy, vapid and sour, both are fit only to engender colic and wind; but if rich, generous and sparkling, they communicate a genial glow to the spirits, improve the taste, and expand the heart.

None are so seldom found alone, and are so soon tired of their own company, as those coxcombs who are on the best terms with themselves.

Some frauds succeed from the apparent candor, the open confidence, and the full blaze of ingenuousness that is thrown around them. The slightest mystery would excite suspicion and ruin all. Such stratagems may be compared to the stars; they are discoverable by darkness and hidden only by light.