The heart of a girl is like a convent--the holier the cloister, the more charitable the door.

Nothing can constitute good-breeding that has not good-nature for its foundation.

Men are valued, not for what they are, but for what they seem to be.

The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion.

One of the surest evidences of friendship that one individual can display to another is telling him gently of a fault. If any other can excel it, it is listening to such a disclosure with gratitude, and amending the error.

The desire of excellence is the necessary attribute of those who excel. We work little for a thing unless we wish for it. But we cannot of ourselves estimate the degree of our success in what we strive for; that task is left to others. With the desire for excellence comes, therefore, the desire for approbation. And this distinguishes intellectual excellence from moral excellence; for the latter has no necessity of human tribunal; it is more inclined to shrink from the public than to invite the public to be its judge.

If a good face is a letter of recommendation, a good heart is a letter of credit.