Nothing is so capable of diminishing self-love as the observation that we disapprove at one time what we approve at another.

Pity is often a reflection of our own evils in the ills of others. It is a delicate foresight of the troubles into which we may fall.

Silence is the best security to the man who distrusts himself.

Often we are firm from weakness, and audacious from timidity.

Love often leads on to ambition, but seldom does one return from ambition to love.

What keeps us from abandoning ourselves entirely to one vice, often, is the fact that we have several.

Great and glorious events which dazzle the beholder are represented by politicians as the outcome of grand designs whereas they are usually products of temperaments and passions.