Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.

A mind once cultivated will not lie fallow for half an hour.

No author ever drew a character consistent to human nature, but he was forced to ascribe to it many inconsistencies.

There are two lives to each of us, the life of our actions, and the life of our minds and hearts. History reveals men's deeds and their outward characters, but not themselves. There is a secret self that has its own life, unpenetrated and unguessed.

The distinguishing trait of people accustomed to good society is a calm, imperturbable quiet which pervades all their actions and habits, from the greatest to the least. They eat in quiet, move in quiet, live in quiet, and lose their wife, or even their money, in quiet; while low persons cannot take up either a spoon or an affront without making such an amazing noise about it.

We tell our triumphs to the crowds, but our own hearts are the sole confidants of our sorrows.

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.