As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

When we enlarge upon the affection our friends have for us, this is very often not so much out of a sense of gratitude as from a desire to persuade people of our own great worth, that can deserve so much kindness.

The whimsicalness of our own humor is a thousand times more fickle and unaccountable than what we blame so much in fortune.

We own up to minor failings, but only so as to convince others that we have no major ones.

Youth is a perpetual intoxication; it is a fever of the mind.

There is something to be said for jealousy, because it only designs the preservation of some good which we either have or think wehave a right to. But envy is a raging madness that cannot bear the wealth or fortune of others.

Coquetry is the essential characteristic, and the prevalent humor of women; but they do not all practice it, because the coquetry of some is restrained by fear or by reason.