The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ, are usually concealed; but the gilded and hollow pretext is pompously placed in the front for show.

He that aspires to be the head of a party will find it more difficult to please his friends than to perplex his foes. He must often act from false reasons which are weak, because he dares not avow the true reasons which are strong.

A wise man may be duped as well as a fool; but the fool publishes the triumph of his deceiver; the wise man is silent, and denies that triumph to an enemy which he would hardly concede to a friend; a triumph that proclaims his own defeat.

Life often presents us with a choice of evils, rather than of goods.

Most of our misfortunes are more supportable than the comments of our friends upon them.

Sturdy beggars can bear stout denials.

Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied.