Talent is full of thoughts, Genius is thought. Talent is a cistern, Genius a fountain.

Lord Chatham and Napoleon were ns much actors as Garrick or Talma. Now, an imposing air should always be taken as evidence of imposition. Dignity is often a veil between us and the real truth of things.

Felicity, not fluency of language, is a merit.

Sin, every day, takes out a patent for some new invention.

What a man does with his wealth depends upon his idea of happiness. Those who draw prizes in life are apt to spend tastelessly, if not viciously; not knowing that it requires as much talent to spend as to make.

A politician weakly and amiably in the right, is no match for a politician tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong.

Nature and society are so replete with startling contrasts that wit often consists in the mere statement and comparison of facts, as when Hume says that the ancient Muscovites wedded their wives with a whip instead of a ring.