A letter is an unannounced visit, the postman the agent of rude surprises. One ought to reserve an hour a week for receiving letters and afterwards take a bath.

Man makes god in his own image.

Undeserved praise causes more pangs of conscience later than undeserved blame, but probably only for this reason, that our power of judgment are more completely exposed by being over praised than by being unjustly underestimated.

The living is a species of the dead; and not a very attractive one.

The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable.

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.

Strong currents drag many stones and bushes along with them, strong intellects many dense and muddled minds.