Imagination took the reins, and reason, slow-paced, though sure-footed, was unequal to a race with so eccentric and flighty a companion.

Unused to the situations in which I find myself, and embarassed by the slightest difficulties, I seldom discover, till too late, how I ought to act.

an old woman ... is a person who has no sense of decency; if once she takes to living, the devil himself can't get rid of her.

You must learn not only to judge but to act for yourself.

falsehood is not more unjustifiable than unsafe.

the mind naturally accommodates itself, even to the most ridiculous improprieties, if they occur frequently.

I'd rather be done any thing to than laughed at, for, to my mind, it's one or other the disagreeablest thing in the world.