A small degree of wit, accompanied by good sense, is less tiresome in the long run than a great amount of wit without it.

What makes us so bitter against people who outwit us is that they think themselves cleverer than we are.

One kind of flirtation is to boast we never flirt.

Nothing is so contagious as example; and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like.

It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one's being clever.

Men never desire anything very eagerly which they desire only by the dictates of reason.

However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack it they pretend to find it spurious , or impute crimes to it.