When you talk to the half-wise, twaddle; when you talk to the ignorant, brag; when you talk to the sagacious, look very humble and ask their opinion.

What mankind wants is not talent; it is purpose.

Poverty is relative, and, therefor not ignoble.

The real truthfulness of all works of imagination, sculpture, painting, and written fiction, is so purely in the imagination, that the artist never seeks to represent positive truth, but the idealized image of a truth

Life, that ever needs forgiveness, has, for its first duty, to forgive.

The conscience is the most flexible material in the world. Today you cannot stretch it over a mole hill; while tomorrow it can hide a mountain.

A good cigar is as great a comfort to a man as a good cry to a woman.