An hour-glass is a reminder not only of time's quick flight, but also of the dust to which we must at last return

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

The highest level than can be reached by a mediocre but experienced mind is a talent for uncovering the weaknesses of those greater than itself.

Bad writers are those who try to express their own feeble ideas in the language of good ones.

As soon as you know a man to be blind, you imagine that you can see it from his back.

The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things.

What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.