The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it.

God, we are told, looked upon the world after he had created it and pronounced it good; but ascetic pietists, in their wisdom, cast their eyes over it, and substantially pronounce it a dead failure, a miserable production, a poor concern.

Great warriors, like great earthquakes, are principally remembered for the mischief they have done.

The worth of a book is a matter of expressed juices.

False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade.

Without death in the world, existence in it would soon become, through over-population, the most frightful of curses.

Formerly when great fortunes were only made in war, war was a business; but now, when great fortunes are only made by business, business is war.