We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it consists in a symmetry of which we know not the rules, and a secret conformity of the features to each other, as also to the air and complexion of the person.

Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.

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.

Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.

Whatever discoveries we may have made in the regions of self-love, there still remain many unknown lands.

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