None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.

The worst thing that can be said of the most powerful is that they can take your life; but the same can be said of the most weak.

Time ... advances like the slowest tide, but retreats like the swiftest torrent.

Genius, in one respect, is like gold; numbers of persons are constantly writing about both, who have neither.

The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other.

We are more inclined to hate one another for points on which we differ, than to love one another for points on which we agree.

Pride is less ashamed of being ignorant, than of being instructed, and she looks too high to find that, which very often lies beneath her.