Every man of sound brain whom you meet knows something worth knowing better than yourself. A man, on the whole, is a better preceptor than a book. But what scholar does not allow that the dullest book can suggest to him a new and a sound idea?

The fewer blows, the better. Brave men fight if they must; wise men never fight if they can help it.

Fine natures are like fine poems; a glance at the first two lines suffices for a guess into the beauty that waits you if you read on.

Vanity, indeed, is the very antidote to conceit; for while the former makes us all nerve to the opinion of others, the latter is perfectly satisfied with its opinion of itself.

If there is a virtue in the world at which we should always aim, it is cheerfulness.

Law dies, books never.

Midnight, and love, and youth, and Italy!