Though man is the only beast that can write, he has small reason to be proud of it. When he utters something that is wise it is nothing that the river horse does not know, and most of his creations are the result of accident.

We are uneasy with an affectionate man, for we are positive he wants something of us, particularly our love.

The ancients understood the regulation of power better than the regulation of liberty.

The newspaper has debauched the American until he is a slavish, simpering, and angerless citizen; it has taught him to be a lump mass-man toward fraud, simony, murder, and lunacies more vile than those of Commodus or Caracalla.

We can only write well about our sins because it is too difficult to recall a virtuous act or even whether it was the result of good or evil motives.

Man hoards himself when he has nothing to give away.

Man pines to live but cannot endure the days of his life.