Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself.

It is with sincere affection or friendship as with ghosts and apparitions,--a thing that everybody talks of, and scarce any hath seen.

One is never as happy or as unhappy as one thinks.

People would not long remain in social life if they were not the dupes of each other.

Gallantry of mind consists in saying flattering things in an agreeable manner.

The desire which urges us to deserve praise strengthens our good qualities, and praise given to wit, valour, and beauty, tends to increase them.

It is a mistake to imagine, that the violent passions only, such as ambition and love, can triumph over the rest. Idleness, languid as it is, often masters them all; she influences all our designs and actions, and insensibly consumes and destroys both passions and virtues.