No man was ever so much deceived by another as by himself.

One great reason why men practice generosity so little in the world, is, their finding so little there: generosity is catching; and if so many men escape it, it is in a great degree from the same reason that country-men escape the smallpox, because they meet no one to give it to them.

Though beauty is, with the most apt similitude, I had almost said with the most literal truth, called a flower that fades and dies almost in the very moment of its maturity; yet there is, methinks, a kind of beauty which lives even to old age; a beauty that is not in the features, but, if I may be allowed the expression, shines through them. As it is not merely corporeal it is not the object of mere sense, nor is it to be discovered but by persons of true taste and refined sentiment.

We are not slow at discovering the selfishness of others; for this plain reason--because it clashes with our own.

The mind's eye is perhaps no better fitted for the full radiance of truth, than is the body's for that of the sun.

Genius always looks forward, and not only sees what is, but what necessarily will be.

No man ever reaches manhood till a woman's tenderness Is a part of his possession.