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

We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shamefaced passion we never dare to acknowledge.

Instead of considering that the worst way to persuade or please others is to try thus strongly to please ourselves, and that to listen well and to answer well are some of the greatest charms we can have in conversation.

Extreme boredom provides its own antidote.

We should gain more by letting the world see what we are than by trying to seem what we are not.

The appearances of goodness and merit often meet with a greater reward from the world than goodness and merit themselves.

People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.