To establish ourselves in the world, we have to do all we can to appear established. To succeed in the world, we do everything we can to appear successful.

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

Nothing should lessen our satisfaction with ourselves as much as when we notice that we disapprove of something at one time that we approve of at another time.

It is often hard to determine whether a clear, open, and honorable proceeding is the result of goodness or of cunning.

Men more easily renounce their interests than their tastes.

The exceeding delight we take in talking about ourselves should give us cause to fear that we are giving but very little pleasureto our listeners.

A man for whom accident discovers sense, is not a rational being. A man only is so who understands, who distinguishes, who tests it.