One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.

People always complain about their memories, never about their minds.

Gratitude is like credit; it is the backbone of our relations; frequently we pay our debts not because equity demands that we should, but to facilitate future loans.

Those whom the world has delighted to honor have oftener been influenced in their doings by ambition and vanity than by patriotism.

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.

The cunningest dissimulation is when a man pretends to be caught in the traps others set for him; and a man is never so easily over-reached as when he is contriving to over-reach others.

We always like those who admire us.