Life is like our game at whist ... I don't enjoy the game much, but I like to play my cards well, and see what will be the end of it.

The commonest man, who has his ounce of sense and feeling, is conscious of the difference between a lovely, delicate woman and a coarse one. Even a dog feels a difference in her presence.

If you deliver an opinion at all, it is mere stupidity not to do it with an air of conviction and well-founded knowledge. You make it your own in uttering it, and naturally get fond of it.

We have all our secret sins; and if we knew ourselves we should not judge each other harshly.

Nothing at times is more expressive than silence.

He who rules must fully humor as much as he commands.

O may I join the choir invisible of those immortal dead who live again in minds made better by their presence; live in pulses stirred to generosity, in deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn for miserable aims that end with self, in thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, and with their mild persistence urge men's search to vaster issues.