Nothing reveals a man's character better than the kind of joke at which he takes offense.

The man was such an intellectual he was of almost no use.

The most perfect ape cannot draw an ape; only man can do that; but, likewise, only man regards the ability to do this as a sign of superiority.

Deliberate virtue is never worth much: The virtue of feeling or habit is the thing.

There can hardly be a stranger commodity in the world than books. Printed by people who don't understand them; sold by people who don't understand them; bound, criticized and read by people who don't understand them; and now even written by people who don't understand them.

There were honest people long before there were Christians and there are, God be praised, still honest people where there are no Christians. It could therefore easily be possible that people are Christians because true Christianity corresponds to what they would have been even if Christianity did not exist.

The celebrated painter Gainsborough got as much pleasure from seeing violins as from hearing them.